Book 32 - If Ever I Should Lose You
by GailDunn2
Summary: WARNING: CONTAINS ADULT CONTENT. Raguel is determined to change everything, and he uses a shocking revelation to achieve his goal. Cas continues to perform his Godly duties, some of which are more difficult than others. The family learns that love is wonderful, but it can also be the very thing that seals your doom.
1. Careful What You Wish For

Chapter 1 - Careful What You Wish For

"Well. Well. If it isn't the very man we've been looking for," Crowley said calmly. But inside, his vessel's heart was racing. What the hell was Raguel playing at? Coming here the way he had was sheer suicide, wasn't it? He had to know that. All Crowley had to do was open up his Originals' frequency, and...Bollocks.

"Did you really think that I was going to let you call Castiel before we'd had our little chat?" Raguel said, with a raised eyebrow. "You have a reputation, Your Majesty, of being able to anticipate your enemies' moves, several steps in advance. I hope you will not disappoint me."

Crowley gave him a half-shrug. "I admit, as an opening Gambit, it was weak. I must have been hanging around humans for too long. Oh, and speaking of which, kudos on that whole chessmen/ assassination tactic. It might even have been sustainable for a while, had Castiel not jumped the gun by engaging one of my lieutenants to send the first would-be assassin."

"He did?!" Raguel exclaimed, surprised. He was floored. Raguel might have to re-think the rethinking of his position on Castiel, now. Imagine being diabolical enough to send a Demon after your own wife, and other family members? Perhaps Castiel WAS committed to the Holy War, after all. Maybe Raguel should call his Brother here, and question him about the subject.

But then Raguel looked more closely at Crowley's face, and he thought better of it. He had better not summon God into the same room as the King of Hell; at least, not yet. The two of them together might be enough to end Raguel. Even if Rowena were to use her prodigious powers to help Raguel, that wouldn't be enough to balance the scales in the Archangel's favour.

"Very good, Crowley," Raguel said. "You almost got me to take the bait." He gestured to a chair. "Why don't you make yourself comfortable so that we can talk?"

Crowley sat down, glaring at Raguel. This was HIS place, not Raguel's. Still, he could play ball for a few minutes. The fact that Raguel hadn't tried to kill him outright suggested that there might be some kind of deal in the offing.

"What is it that you want to talk to me about?" Crowley asked curiously.

"Are the two of you honestly going to sit there and have a conversation, with me still sitting here in chains?" Rowena fumed.

"Oh. Right. Yes, we are," Crowley said sarcastically.

She glared at him. "Mind your manners, Fergus. You don't have Castiel here to do your dirty work, and we all know that you can't kill me yourself. So as far as I'm concerned, you're powerless to prevent me from doing whatever it is that I want to do." She looked at Raguel. "Correction: Whatever it is that WE want to do."

Raguel gave her a sour smile. He snapped his fingers, and the chains that had been holding her disintegrated.

Crowley rolled his eyes. "So, are you going to be my new Daddy?" he said to Raguel, with as much sarcasm as he could muster.

"Of course not. Don't be ridiculous. As if I would ever want to be related to a worm like you," Raguel said disdainfully. "Besides, your mother and I don't have that type of a relationship."

"My apologies, Raguel. Apparently, your standards are higher than I originally gave you credit for." Crowley snapped his fingers, and a tumbler of scotch appeared in his hand. "Cheers," he said, raising the glass to his lips. Then he looked at Rowena. "That's bad news for you, Mother. If you can't seduce him, he'll just use you, and then he will tire of you. That's all right. I can wait. When your Archangel here dumps you, and he will, I'll be waiting. I may not be able to kill you myself, but I can certainly make your life as miserable as possible. You're playing way out of your league, Mother. Trying to start a Holy War? Please. If you think I'm going to let you mess with my Kingdom like that, you are sorely mistaken. I will do everything in my power to swat you down, like the annoying, little, insignificant gnat that you are."

"I hate you," she snarled. "I wish I'd never had you in the first place."

"I can assure you that the feeling is entirely mutual," Crowley shot back. "Any one of those pigs you tried to sell me for would have been a better mother to me than you ever were."

"It's interesting you should both say that," Raguel said in a thoughtful tone. "I have often felt that what you are both talking about could be the answer to everything. Care to test the theory?" He snapped his fingers, and a bowl appeared in his hand. He placed it on a small table in the middle of the room. Then he took his Angel blade out of his pocket, approaching Rowena. "If you really mean what you are saying, you need only prick yourself with this blade, then let a few drops of your blood fall into this bowl."

"Seriously?" she said to him. "I know of no spell like that. If I did, don't you think I would have done it myself by now?"

"Have you ever heard of a little tome called the Book of Life?" Raguel said arrogantly.

Rowena smiled. "You found it? That's fantastic, dearie." She looked at Crowley, sniffing disdainfully at his angry expression. Then she seized the Angel blade from Raguel's hand, slicing her own hand with it. She pursed her lips for a moment, but Rowena was no stranger to having to shed her own blood for a spell. She walked rapidly over to the bowl, holding her bleeding hand over it. Once she'd bled into it, Raguel took her by her other hand and led her back to her chair, healing her wound. She stared at Crowley defiantly.

"What do you say, Your Majesty?" Raguel said, holding the knife out towards Crowley. "Care for a do-over?"

Crowley regarded him suspiciously. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Raguel assured him. "It's a bona fide offer. A show of good faith, if you will, ahead of my proposition. You are still interested in obtaining the Book of the Dead, are you not?"

Crowley approached Raguel slowly. "Well, we both know you can't kill me with that thing." The King reached out, taking the blade from Raguel's hand. The Archangel had cleaned Rowena's blood from the blade, so it was pristine again. Still, Crowley squinted, scrutinizing the knife closely. Then, he sniffed at it. Nothing. No poison. Rowena was just sitting there, staring at him imperiously. Like she thought that she was a Queen, not just some redheaded whore who had screwed her way into accidental motherhood. How he loathed her.

Crowley cut the palm of his hand with the Angel blade and held it over the bowl, staring at his mother. "If this works, Raguel, you just became my new best friend," the King said. Then he returned to his chair, picking his drink up from the floor. He and Rowena faced each other, like two boxers in their corners between rounds.

"Excellent," Raguel said, looking down into the bowl. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a thin piece of paper, holding it over the bowl. He began to recite the incantation, crumpling the paper in his fist.

Sam, Cas and Gail were brainstorming at the bunker. They had been, ever since the bailiff had taken Dean back to the jail to await his sentencing in the morning.

Sam was drinking fairly heavily, and he'd been venting his frustration. In all his years of studying the law, he had never heard of a case where the prosecutor had been able to bring anyone to trial on such little evidence, let alone obtain a conviction.

Gail was angry too, and she was also extremely puzzled. "Why did Crowley say he's coming back tomorrow? What would be the point to that? Does he just want to gloat over Dean's getting sent to jail?"

"He told me he could help Dean get acquitted, in exchange for my going with him to interrogate his mother," Cas told them.

"Well, whatever. He didn't, did he? Did you try calling him?" she persisted.

"Yes, I did, but he is not responding," Cas said, tight-lipped. "But, none of that matters. If things do not go the way he promised tomorrow, I will take whatever steps are necessary. Don't worry, Sam."

But Sam WAS worried. Dean was stubbornly insisting that he didn't want Cas to bust him out of jail. They had argued about it again, after Nick had left the courtroom for the day, telling them he was going to try to persuade the judge to be lenient on Dean. A fat lot of good Nick had been, Sam thought angrily. License or not, Sam could have defended his brother a lot more effectively. The fact that they'd sort of handcuffed Nick by withholding the truth from him notwithstanding, of course.

Suddenly, the walls of the bunker began to shake, and Cas heard Raguel's voice in his head. "I have some good news and I have some bad news, Castiel," the Archangel advised his Brother. "You do not need to worry about Dean Winchester being in jail any longer. That is the good news. However, everything as we all know it to be is about to change. That is bad news for some, but good news for others. It all depends upon the way you look at it."

Sam disappeared, and the walls of the bunker started to collapse. "No," Cas breathed. He dove for Gail. "No!" he shouted to Raguel. "Don't! I beg of you!"

But the moment that the overleaf from the Book of Life hit the blood in the bowl, it was too late. Cas had his arms around Gail, holding her tightly to him as if doing so would make any difference, any difference at all. He shielded her from the debris as the bunker collapsed around them. "No. Please," Cas moaned miserably. But it was no use. Gail vanished, leaving him clutching at air.

Cas fell to his knees, and then a moment later, he too disappeared.

Rowena woke up slowly, picking herself up off the cold stone floor of the cottage. She thought furiously. Why was she lying here on the floor? She had to get herself ready. The Solstice celebrations were tonight, and she didn't intend to miss the revels. Life had been very dreary lately, and she had been far too good, living here all by herself and sleeping alone, like a nun. Working on the spells she would need to perfect if she ever hoped to get out of this dingy village and make a decent life for herself. But first, she was going to let her hair down tonight.

Suddenly, Rowena doubled over, clutching her stomach in pain. What the hell? She looked at the table, where the remnants of her meager dinner sat. Oh, no. The mutton had tasted a little off, but it was all she had. She hated being poor. Just hated it. After tonight's party, she was going to brew up a couple of potions and make the acquaintance of a few influential men in town.

Another set of cramps hit her, and that convinced Rowena: she'd better stay home, and let that mutton work its way through her system. How disappointing. But she was in no shape for a pagan ritual right now, much less the orgy afterwards.

She crawled into bed to rest.

Because Rowena skipped the orgy that night, she was never impregnated by Crowley's father, whoever that might have been. So, Raguel had granted her wish. There had never been a Fergus MacLeod then, so there was no Crowley, King of Hell, now. Crowley had been screwed by his own deal by not reading the fine print, something he had always cautioned others against. He'd thought that, by agreeing to the deal, he was still going to be born, just to a different mother. But Raguel hadn't actually said that, had he?

Lucifer sat at the big oak desk in the High Office, smoking a cigar. He buzzed the Intercom. "Send the Prince in, honey."

Raguel entered the room, looking disdainfully at his God. This was the problem with altering the past. He had considered a lot of possible outcomes when he'd made the offer, but the Archangel had really been hoping for a different God. No one liked Lucifer. No one. He was a childish bully, a heavy-handed brat who demanded respect, but had done exactly nothing to earn it.

But Raguel could only work with the dominoes the way they had fallen, and he had planned ahead for this scenario, along with many others. "Yes, my Lord?" he inquired.

"I need you to come with me to meet with the Queen of Hell and her Knight," Lucifer said, stabbing his cigar out on the desktop. He rolled his eyes. "She wants to talk about something-or-other. Who the hell knows? I just meet with her because she's a total babe, and because it's a lot of fun to see the expression on her flunky's face when he's got to take orders from us."

Raguel sighed. How immature. Lucifer was God. He could be doing great things. He SHOULD be doing great things. Raguel would gladly stand by his side if Lucifer were to ride into Hell and vow to kill everyone there. In fact, the Father's one-time favourite Son had promised to do just that, when he had fought Castiel in the Garden, and won. But Lucifer was lazy, and he was self-indulgent. He hadn't even slain Castiel. Lucifer had left his enemy alive, so that he could gloat over his victory every time he saw the former Angel.

Lucifer and Raguel winked down to Earth, to meet with Abbadon on neutral ground. The Queen of Hell liked to meet in bars, or dens of iniquity such as strip clubs. That was just fine with Lucifer. They usually had a few drinks and paid for a couple of lap dances while their lieutenants stood by stiffly, trying to ignore the goings-on. Lucifer found that amusing.

Today she'd picked a seedy bar on the outskirts of Toledo, Ohio, but Raguel was relieved to see that there were no strippers this time. It was disgusting to have to witness that kind of display. He would expect as much from the denizens of Hell, but it was embarrassing to see God wallowing in the filth with the swine.

And obviously, Raguel's counterpart felt the same way. But he did his duty, as Raguel did his. Castiel had always been a good soldier. He had stood up to Lucifer in the Garden that day, but Castiel had stood alone. He had been the only Angel with the courage to try to take on Lucifer. But, because he had been alone, Castiel had lost the battle, and Lucifer had cast him down to Hell, to be Abbadon's slave for all eternity. How delicious was that? And, because Abbadon considered Castiel to be a delectable piece of eye candy, she brought him with her to their meetings. Besides, he was the best fighter she had. But even though it was tempting, the Queen had never demanded any other kind of service from Castiel. If he could get that stick out of his rear end long enough, he might be quite good at it. But there was a part of Abbadon that remained leery of her lieutenant. He followed every order she gave him without comment, but if she ever allowed herself to relax her guard around him to that extent, Abbadon had the feeling that she just might feel a blade in-between her ribs, instead of a fallen Angel between her legs.

Lucifer and Abbadon clinked glasses as Raguel and Castiel stood guard over them.

"How are things in Heaven?" the Queen asked her counterpart.

Lucifer shrugged. "About the same. Not as interesting as coming down here and seeing you, of course. Oh, and Metatron sends his regards. He said to let him know if you need any more translations done. I'll give him permission to come down there and use your library, if you want. I'm bored of the little troll, anyway."

Abbadon rolled her eyes. Metatron. Raguel. Even Lucifer, himself. Where were all the fun, good-looking men? They had to be somewhere. There were a few of them in Hell, but Demons were also stupid, and slow. Where were all the good men? Well, "good" being relative, of course. Where HAD all the cowboys gone, anyway?

Castiel was still a good man, deep down, but he had given up. He had gambled and lost, thinking that once he took up arms against Lucifer, his Brothers and Sisters would join him. The Angels were all miserable under Lucifer's regime, but they had no one to blame but themselves. Lucifer had been a powerful Angel, but before he had become God, he might have been defeated, had Castiel had the numbers. But Cas had merely been a soldier, a member of the rank and file. Hardly a leader. There had been nothing to distinguish him from the millions of other Angels, except for a strong sense of right and wrong, and a desire for a better existence. But he had no idea that what he was experiencing was the struggle for Free Will. He had never met Dean and Sam Winchester, because when Dean had made his deal at the crossroads years later to save his brother, Lucifer had been God, and Lucifer didn't give the furry crack of a rat's ass about Dean Winchester. So Dean had remained in Hell, and Castiel was there too, but the two of them would never meet. Castiel was the Queen's lieutenant, and Dean was just an ordinary Joe, going through the tortures of the damned, just like so many others.

If you topple one domino, countless others will follow. But some of the biggest dominoes were yet to come, because it was not only Crowley who had never come into existence that fateful night.

As Rowena lay in her bed at the cottage, Raguel appeared before her. "I'm giving you one more chance to change your mind," he told her. "I could wave my hand over you right now and cure your ills, and you could still make the ritual in time."

"Now why on earth would I want to do that?" Rowena retorted. "I'm on the verge of getting what I want. I'm young, I'm sexy, and the world is soon to be at my feet. I don't want to be saddled with a baby, especially not that ungrateful brat, Fergus."

"Fine," Raguel said calmly. "I just wanted to make sure. People always claim they want things to be a certain way, but then when they get what they thought they wanted, they frequently find out that the reality is quite different."

"Yes, I'm sure," Rowena said irritably.

"All right," Raguel said, staring at her intently. "But, just remember, this is the future you have chosen for yourself. Free Will is a double-edged sword, my dear." He put his hand on her forehead, showing her the world he lived in now. Rowena shrugged. What did she care? Looked good to her. All of her enemies were either vanquished, or gone. What wasn't to like about that?

She saw Sam Winchester, living a lonely, empty existence. He was just going through the motions, working a menial job by day, and drinking himself to sleep every night.

As was Frank. In their other lives, he had met Jody through the Winchesters. But because he didn't know the Winchesters from a hole in the ground now, Frank had no family of his own. He'd lived with his mom and dad until they had decided to sell the house and retire to Florida. Now, Frank lived in a small one-bedroom apartment in town. He'd taken a menial job too, and like Sam, he drank way too much, falling asleep in front of the TV most nights.

Hmmm. What about Gail? Rowena wondered. But then, she realized: without her son in their lives, the siblings obviously hadn't gotten mixed up with Demons, or had to go on the run. Wherever Gail was now, she and Frank were probably not that close. But once again, who cared? It did her black heart good to see her enemies so unhappy. The more she saw of this world, the better she liked it.

There was Rob, living with his father Mark in a big mansion in California. Mark had asked for and received his assignment there from Lucifer himself, as a reward for his years and years of loyal service. Mark was grooming his son to inherit the family business, and Rob was taking to the practice of Evil like a duck to water. There was no one to stand in their way. When Felicia had lipped off to Mark once too often, he had stabbed her several times and then handed Rob the Angel blade to finish her off.

This just kept getting better and better. Raguel winked Rowena over to the United States, where she roamed around with impunity, doing whatever she wanted to do, whenever she wanted to do it. This was fantastic. She wished she'd met Raguel centuries ago. But he had fixed her life for her now, and if he wanted something in return, she'd deal with it when he made his request. But whatever it was he could end up wanting, it would be well worth it, in Rowena's opinion. She was living in the kind of paradise she had always envisioned. The only regrettable thing was that she would never meet Bobby Singer. But aside from that, she was living the good life.

Or so she'd thought. But, there were those damn dominoes.

"I've decided I want more witches," Abbadon said over the rim of her glass. "Maybe you and I could work out some kind of a deal."

"I'm listening," Lucifer told her.

"I'm proposing a mutually beneficial arrangement," the Queen said, smiling. "You're going to like this. We send our lieutenants and their garrisons to Earth to kill all the witches, and then we divide up the spoils."

"Yeah? How?" Lucifer said suspiciously.

"This is the part you're going to like," Abbadon said, lifting her glass to him. "I get all the ugly ones, and you get all the pretty ones. I had my beefy assistant crunch some numbers, and surprisingly, I only get a small majority. The notion of green skin and ugly warts is so...Fifth Century."

"What do you want witches for?" Raguel piped up. As if he didn't know. But if Lucifer was too stupid to read the handwriting on the wall, it was too bad for him.

"Did you hear something?" Abbadon said to Lucifer. She waved her hand, and slash marks appeared on Raguel's neck, making him hiss in pain. "You're here to guard, not to talk. Consider that your only warning." She looked up at Castiel, who was standing at attention by her side. "Take your example from my ever-faithful guard dog, here." Abbadon ran her fingers up and down Castiel's arm and then she put her hand on his bicep, giving it a squeeze. She purred like a jungle cat. She'd heard that he worked out constantly during his time off. Well, if what she was feeling was the result, maybe she should consider relaxing her policy on sexual harassment.

Castiel stood stoically while his Queen touched him. She was repugnant, but he bore it, because this was what he deserved. He should have done more, fought Lucifer harder. To the death, if necessary. But in a way, that was what it had come to, anyway. Castiel was dead inside. Any spark that he might have had once had long since been extinguished, at the end of Lucifer's blade. God the Father was dead. He had to be. He would never allow these abominations to rule, otherwise.

Lucifer was too arrogant to pick up on Raguel's query. Instead, he asked, "Not that I'm complaining, but: why do you want all the ugly ones?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Abbadon said, smirking. "Despite all the millions of men I have down there, the selection is - shall we say - depleted, somewhat."

Lucifer answered her smirk with one of his own. "Well, maybe if you'd stop eating them after you mate with them, you'd have more."

Abbadon did a double-take. As rejoinders went, that had actually been a pretty good one. Point for him. "In any event," she said dryly, "I don't need any competition. But this is a big win for you. It means that you get all the beautiful, sexy ones, to do whatever you want with. So, what do you think?" She stuck her hand out. "Do we have a deal?"

Lucifer took her hand, as Raguel tried not to roll his eyes. Boy, was his boss stupid.

Castiel was thinking the same thing, but the thought held no joy for him. It didn't matter to him whether Abbadon annihilated Lucifer or not. Then Raguel would just take over Heaven, or Mark, or even Metatron. He knew that Mark had a son named Rob, who was an up-and-comer, as well. But as far as he knew, they were all in line to rule Heaven, not Hell. And even if someone were able to overthrow Abbadon and release Castiel from his bondage, where would he go? What would he do?

And so it came to pass that God and the Queen sent their armies to Earth to slaughter all the witches. Rowena lasted longer than most, but eventually, she found herself in Heaven, chained and bound. Now, her Paradise had become her Hell. They came for her and dragged her to Lucifer's office, chaining her to a chair in front of his desk.

Lucifer walked around the big oak desk and stood looming over her. "You're hot," he told her. "I love all that flaming red hair. So, tell me...does the carpet match the drapes?"

Rowena glared up at him, and he laughed. "Ooooh. Me-ow. I think I'll make you one of my personal slaves. I need some eye candy, like Abbadon's got. If I have to look at my lieutenant's lemon-sucking, ugly-ass face one more minute, I think I might have to kill him. I like your spirit, honey."

"I'm not your honey, and I'm no man's slave," Rowena said angrily. "Now, take these chains off of me!"

"You're quite the little spitfire," Lucifer said, amused. "You remind me of a girl I would have met in another life, if you had screwed that guy, instead of screwing the pooch. You have nobody but yourself to blame for what's happening to you now, Rowena. But let's get one thing straight: I'm the Boss here, and what I say goes. You can use some of that spirit with me in bed, as long as you don't go too far with it. If you hurt me, I'll have you tortured beyond your wildest imagination. But please, please give me a bit of a challenge. The problem with these damn Angels - the girls AND the guys - is that they just lay back and submit. It's boring as...well, Hell."

He snapped his fingers, and her chains vanished. Then he grabbed her and pulled her to her feet, tearing at her dress. Rowena reached up and raked her fingernails down his face, making him bleed.

"How dare you!?" she exclaimed. "I told you, I'm a slave to no man! I decide who I sleep with, not the other way around!"

"Oh, yeah?" Lucifer shot back. "We'll see about that." He shoved her back down into the chair, then wheeled around, sweeping everything off the desk. "Lesson One: Don't piss off the Master."

Then he raped Rowena right there on the desk, then beat her, then healed her, then violated her again, just because he could. Then he had her thrown in Heaven's dungeon, and he starved her for a week. He went into her cell every day to taunt her, telling her that if she was hungry, he had something in his pants she could nibble on. She had spit at him, and when she became so dehydrated that she was unable to do that anymore, she cursed him in a dry, cracked voice. But, much like removing an Angel's Grace, Lucifer had drained all the witchcraft out of her, so it was to no avail. After nearly two weeks of this, Rowena finally capitulated. He gave her a drink of water, unzipped his pants, and made her call him "Master" while she was tending to him.

This went on for another week or so, every day. But in his zeal to force her to submit to him, Lucifer had broken her, in every sense of the word. She submitted now, but she was all skin and bones, and her eyes were hollow. The spirit he'd so admired in the first place had gone out of her, and she was starting to look her age. Her real age. Maybe the next time he went into her cell, he would just burn her. But only after she took care of him, first, while she was still good for that.

Raguel slipped into Rowena's cell just before dawn. Rowena looked up at him with her one good eye.

"What's the matter, Rowena?" Raguel taunted her. "I thought you were living in Paradise. You said you wanted this. In fact, you told me that, several times. Quite adamantly."

"All right, all right," she said wearily. "Fine. I suppose I should have thought it through just a little more."

"I did warn you," Raguel persisted.

"Aye, so you did. Did you come here just to lord it over me? Because, I can assure you, I've had my fill of male supremacy for quite a while," she said quietly.

Raguel looked closely at her face. She was bloody and unkempt, a shell of her former self. But, he could see what Lucifer had missed: there WAS still a spark left, albeit a tiny one. But Raguel had had an agenda, this whole time. "What if I told you that you could go back to the way things were before? Which existence would you choose now?"

Rowena continued to stare up at him. Had he been playing her, this whole time? Of course he had. That was what men like this did. But the pain and degradation she felt now were very real. "Please, I want to go back to the way things were, Raguel." There. That should be deferential enough for him.

"I don't know," he said airily. "I kind of like being a Prince of Heaven. It's got a nice ring to it."

"Please don't make me beg," Rowena said in a soft voice. She felt sick to her stomach. Raguel would pay. They would all pay. She sighed. "You win, my liege. I'll do anything you want me to do, if you'll just return me to my former life."

Raguel decided he had made his point. It seemed as though Rowena had indeed taken the lesson. He reached down and touched her shoulder and a moment later, her shackles clattered to the dungeon floor, empty.

So Rowena was back at the cottage now, and she was going through the throes of labour. There was no one there, of course. Unmarried women who were expecting were shunned by respectable people in those days, and Rowena had a bit of a reputation around town, anyway. And midwives cost money, money that she did not yet have.

She had gone to the Solstice celebration that night after all, laying off the mutton. And, as fate had decreed, she had gotten pregnant. Rowena writhed in pain now, moaning loudly, wiping her own forehead with a damp cloth.

Unbeknownst to Rowena, whose eyes were closed against the pain, there was another individual in the cottage that night. He was watching avidly as she lifted her skirts, opening her legs wide. Funny; the last time she had done that for him it had been a lot more enjoyable, for the both of them. But it was almost time now, and Vincent had wanted to be here for the momentous event. Maybe he would even give Rowena a cigar, afterwards.

Vincent was an ancient being, a lot older than any of them realized. Like a certain pair of Angels and the boy who was about to come out of Rowena's womb now, Vincent had been in existence in one form or another since just about the Beginning of it all. He didn't think he was going to stick around here too much longer, though. Maybe just a decade or two. But he would be back again, in an era of his choosing. Maybe World War I, or II, or both. Or maybe not until the Swingin', Psychedelic Sixties. Vincent could wreak death and destruction with the best of them if he wanted to, but he preferred to make love, not war.

He leaned forward excitedly now as the boy slid out, all bloody and sticky. The future King of Hell. It was funny how they all looked the same when they came out like this. Messy, gooey blobs. But the potential was where the thrill was.

Now, Vincent had a decision to make. Rowena was panting with the effort of having given birth, but then the pains started coming again, and a couple of minutes later, another baby came sliding out. Vincent nodded. He had figured as much. A boy and a girl, just as he had planned. But the question now was: Which one should he take?

Rowena looked down at the babies. Twins! No wonder she had been as big as a house. A boy and a girl. Now she felt a lot happier about the whole thing. She could mentor the girl, once she got old enough. Teach her proper magic. Maybe she would try to teach the boy as well, but it had been Rowena's experience that females were generally more adept at magical spells. But, the boy could be useful, too. The children could keep house and keep each other company while Rowena was out on the town, doing her thing. This might actually work out very nicely.

But suddenly, Vincent stepped out from the shadows. "Congratulations, Rowena," he said softly. "You did a very good job. I know this is years and years before the age of community property, but I'm willing to split the assets, right down the middle. Well, so to speak." He grinned. "But why don't you name them, first? I'm terrible at names."

Rowena was confused. What the hell was he talking about? "You show up now, all these months after the Solstice, claiming responsibility? Where have you been this whole time?"

"Around," Vincent said evasively. "Now, do you want to name them, or not?"

Rowena was too worn out to argue. She looked at the babies. "Fergus, for the boy," she said, "and Priscilla, for the girl."

"Great. Terrific. Now, say goodbye to one of them. Let's see," Vincent mused. "Eeny, meeny, miney...Priscilla." He picked up the baby girl, using the only blanket that Rowena had, to wrap the child in. He was a proud Papa, but there was no need to get that disgusting fluid all over his clothes, either.

"What do you think you're doing?" Rowena demanded angrily. She struggled to sit up as Baby Fergus began to cry. Vincent looked down at Baby Priscilla, but she was docile. He started to grin again.

"You'll thank me, later," Vincent said good-naturedly. "The boy is much better suited for your particular...temperament, anyway." He waved his free hand over her face, and the words to the amnesia spell were said. Then Rowena fell back on the bed, sound asleep.

"Good luck, Your Majesty," Vincent said to Baby Fergus, and then he winked out of the cottage with Crowley's sister in his arms.

One cold and snowy Christmas Eve years later, a woman named Priscilla stumbled into a pub, hungry, wet, and bedraggled. There she met a man called Fergus, who took pity on her, and took her into his home. But then, she met a handsome, blue-eyed stranger named John Alden, and the two of them sailed off to the New World together, leaving Priscilla's brother Fergus behind, to make his deal with the reigning King of Hell. Cursing Castiel and Gail for the remainder of their days.

Rowena stared at Raguel, open-mouthed with shock. He gave her a thin smile. "So now, you see. I asked you to be sure, because one little pebble can cause so many ripples. And two little pebbles? Well, they can alter an entire universe. If there is no Fergus, there is no Priscilla. Cause and effect, my dear. If you had no son, you had no daughter. Crowley and Gail have been through many incarnations, as has Castiel, since the dawn of the day of the Beginning. Without a Gail to be Castiel's mate, my Brother loses the final battle with Lucifer. And without Crowley as the King of Hell, Abbadon rules, and together, she and Lucifer seal your fate. So, I will ask you one more time: Which scenario do you prefer?"

Cas rose from the library floor, his head reeling. Had he been hit on the head by a piece of falling debris? But as he looked around, he saw that the bunker was intact, and all was quiet.

He looked around excitedly. Could it be? Oh, please, Father. Please.

A moment later, Gail appeared. Cas rushed over to her and pulled her into his arms, whimpering. "Oh, thank You, Father. Thank You so much for Your mercy." He covered Gail's face with kisses. "Are you all right, my darling?"

"I'm OK, Cas, you're just squishing me," she said, but she was smiling now, and she was clinging to him, too. He eased his grip, looking down at her face. "I didn't say I wanted you to stop," Gail quipped.

The two of them clung to each other for a moment, showering each other with love. "What happened, Cas?" Gail asked him, touching his face. "One minute I was here, and the next, I was...nowhere."

"Where did you go? What did you see?" he asked her, agitated.

"I told you, Cas, I don't know. I didn't see anything. Nothing. It was all black. That's all I can tell you. Why? Do you know what's going on?"

Cas frowned. "I think I might. We'll find out for sure, one way or another. But the main thing is that you're here. You're here." He crushed her to him again. "Raguel can't have the entire Book, then; only a small part of it," he murmured. "I thought I had truly lost you this time."

Gail had no idea what the hell he was talking about, but for the moment, she was happy just to be held by him. That had been really scary, whatever it was. "I love you so much, Cas," she said in a shaky voice.

"Promise me something," he said, and she realized with alarm that he was crying now. "Please promise me, once we get everything sorted out, that you will consider coming back to me. Please, Gail. I can't be without you. I would rather die. Please."

"OK, Cas. OK," she said. "Please don't cry." But she was being a hypocrite now, because she was crying now, too. It was breaking her heart to see him weeping uncontrollably like this, and it was scaring her, too. Whatever had just happened, it had obviously frightened Cas so much that he was reduced to the sobbing, shaking mess that was clutching at her now. His fear was contagious. She touched his face again, with both of her hands this time.

"Is that what you guys do when I doze off? Make out?" Sam said from behind them. He was back at the library table now, stretching and yawning. "Man, I had the lousiest dream," he said to his friends.

Dean had been tossing and turning on his bunk in jail, and he woke up now, bathed in sweat. He looked around at his surroundings, panicked for a moment. Where was he? This wasn't his bedroom at the bunker. Then he remembered, and he actually smiled when he realized that he was in his jail cell. The dream of being back in Hell had been so vivid that he could actually feel the torture, and hear the screams.

He sat up, checking his torso for wounds. Nothing. He wasn't in Hell; he was in the jailhouse. Thank Cas. He smirked. Actually, he guessed he could, technically. It was his friend's fault that Dean was here in the first place.

But, strangely, none of that mattered right now. He wasn't in Hell, and whatever happened in the morning, they would deal with it together. Cas and Gail were his family, and even though he'd been pissed off at them, he still loved them both. It was weird to think of, but when Dean had been in Hell for real, he hadn't known either one of them. Now he couldn't imagine his life without them.

And they would get Sammy sorted out, too. This was Dean's first offense, or at least, the first one he had actually been convicted for. He had initially been surprised that the jury had convicted him on such little evidence, but now, Dean had more or less accepted his fate. Bottom line was, he had killed that girl who the Demon was riding. Depending on how long she had been possessed, she might still have been able to be saved. But Dean had been consumed with a white-hot rage at the Demon who had shot Rob. The kid hadn't even begun to live his life yet, and that bitch had tried to snuff it out. What gave her the right? If Dean thought he and Sammy had had it hard, Rob could give them a run for their money, and then some.

So, instead of trying an exorcism, Dean had gone for the knife, and he could swear he'd seen a look of shock and fear on the girl's face before he'd killed her. So he'd told Sam, and he'd told Cas, not to spring him. Dean deserved to be punished. This had been a long time coming. That poor young girl had been only one of many of Dean's victims, but she was the one who had finally made him realize that he needed to pay a price. Cas would call it atonement. Well, bring it on. Dean was ready. Depending on how long he was sent up, maybe Dean would encourage Sam to go back to law school. It was never too late, right?

Then Dean lay back on his bunk, and a few minutes later, he fell into a deep sleep. Mercifully, he did not dream.

"That was some very good, dime-store magic," Rowena said scornfully. Now that she realized that whole scenario had only been in her head, some of her bravado was back. "Maybe you should give Las Vegas a call. Me, I prefer real magic to illusion."

"Illusion?" Raguel said, bemused. "Is that what you think? Why don't you check the place on your body where Lucifer branded you, and then tell me that it was all in your mind? Go ahead. I won't look."

Raguel turned his back on Rowena as she lifted her skirts and checked her leg. Sure enough, there it was, the "L" that Lucifer had branded on her inner thigh, to signify that she belonged to him. Then Raguel snapped his fingers, and the mark glowed, red hot. Rowena hissed in pain, remembering the utter agony that receiving that mark had caused her. Lucifer had watched avidly as his man had put Rowena on the rack, naked, and cranked the wheel to spread her legs wide. Then he had come at her with the burning hot brand, and she had screamed before it had even touched her. Lucifer had laughed. "It's not what you're thinking, Red," he'd said, "but that'll be the next place, if you don't do as I say, when I say it."

Raguel turned around slowly. "I used one page, just one page, from the Book of Life. Regrettably, that's been all I have been able to recover, as of yet. But just think, then, of the potential of the entire Book, if just the overleaf was enough to do all of that. Your experience was quite real, I assure you. But there was a reason for that entire exercise. I know that you wished your son out of existence, but you can see now that that would have been a mistake."

"Fine," Rowena fumed. "He had to have been born. But then, why don't you just kill him NOW?"

"Because I need him," Raguel told her. "Like it or not, I need him to translate some passages of the ancient language that I cannot. Now that Metatron is dead, Crowley is the foremost expert there is on linguistics. I am looking to propose a partnership with him, and I did not want your interference."

"So you branded me and dragged me through that living hell with Lucifer, just so that I would shut up and get out of the way?" Rowena exclaimed, incredulous.

Raguel nodded. "Yes," he said dispassionately.

"Fine," she said again. "Return us to the status quo, then. Please," she added, although the word made her want to vomit.

"You think that I am a cruel individual, don't you?" Raguel asked, with no expression in his voice.

Rowena continued to look at him, but she said nothing. Anything she could say right now about what kind of individual she thought he was might well get her thrown back into Lucifer's dungeon.

Raguel snapped his fingers, and they were back in the room where the spell had been cast. The bowl was still on the table, but Crowley's chair was empty. "The spell has a bit of a delay," the Archangel told her. "In the interim, you may wish to use the Book's ashes to remove that brand from your thigh. Unless you wish to keep it, of course." As Rowena started towards the bowl, he caught her by her wrist. "But rest assured, I can always arrange for you to have another one, if you defy me."

He released his grip on the witch, and she strode over to the bowl, trying to hold her temper. She dipped her fingers in the bowl. The remnants of the ancient paper, Rowena and Fergus's blood, and whatever other ingredients had been in there had combined to make a sort of paste. She hiked her skirt up with her other hand, not caring if he was looking or not, and touched the paste to the brand mark. An instant later, it disappeared, and the pain was gone.

Gail was her daughter. Rowena was still reeling. The girl who had killed her, in Crowley's den. God's wife was the daughter of an ancient practitioner of the dark arts and a centuries-old witch who had once been a member of the Grand Coven. Castiel's wife was the sister of the King of Hell. It seemed there was a black sheep in the family. Or, was it a white one? Doubtless, Gail would feel that it was the other way around, if she were ever to find out. And how would Castiel react to this particular little news bulletin?

This was going to take a while to process, and it was also going to take Rowena a while to plan a fitting revenge to take on Raguel for what he had put her through. Fergus was lucky; Raguel had now supplanted her son as Public Enemy Number One, as far as Rowena was concerned. She walked slowly back to the chair she had been sitting in and sank down into it.

So when Crowley suddenly appeared back in his chair and picked up his drink as if nothing had happened, Rowena did not react. Nor did Raguel, but he did wave his hand, and then he waved it again, re-installing Rowena's chains. "I'll be in touch," he said to Crowley. Then he waved his hand and disappeared.


	2. Dirty Little Secrets

Chapter 2 - Dirty Little Secrets

Crowley stood from his chair. "So, where were we?" he said to his mother.

Rowena stared at him. Unbelievable. Did he honestly have no recollection of what had just happened here? Apparently not, because he was acting as if they were picking up exactly where they'd left off, and he made no mention of Raguel. Had that been what that little hand wave of Raguel's had been all about?

The King's mother had nothing to say at the moment. Her head was still reeling from everything she had just experienced. And Fergus had no idea. Nor did Gail. There had to be a way for Rowena to use this information to her advantage. What about Vincent? Where was he, and what was he doing? She had no doubt that he was still alive; cockroaches like him tended to outlast just about everything. Rowena was making a mental checklist now of every man who had ever wronged her, or screwed her around. Fergus was still on it, but funnily enough, his name had slid down the list a few notches now. And as far as Gail went, Rowena had no idea how to feel about her at the moment. Her daughter was an Original Angel, and the First Lady of Heaven. Rowena didn't know what to do with that. Should she feel proud, or ashamed? Did they make an ambiguous Hallmark card for that type of situation? Congratulations On Your Exalted Status, We Are Deeply Ashamed, Love, Mother.

Crowley was looking closely at his mother's face. She had a strange expression, one he couldn't quite interpret. He had actually just showed up here after court had adjourned for the day to make sure that Rowena was still here. She had a way of wriggling out of things. He still had no idea how she'd gotten out of the Netherworld. To his knowledge, no one had ever done that before. Well, not to stay, anyway.

"Make yourself comfortable, Mother," he said to her. "I'll be back in the morning, after I fulfill my end of a bargain. Sleep tight. Don't let the vermin bite." He snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Rowena sat there as calmly as she could. She was almost glad of the solitude, as long as he had been joking about the vermin. She had no doubt that he would be coming back in the morning, though. Whatever else he might be, the King was a man of his word. But Rowena could last until then. She had a lot to think about.

Did this newfound knowledge mean that Rowena had to look at things from another perspective now? How would her life have been different if she had been able to keep both babies? Or, would it have been different at all? Would Fergus and Priscilla have chosen the same paths they had ended up travelling down, and would they be the same individuals they were now, at completely opposite ends of the spectrum?

She thought back to when her son had kidnapped Gail and brought her to his lair on Earth. Fergus had been grooming Gail to be his Queen, then. Yikes. Rowena wasn't sure if she should be amused by the thought, or nauseated. She had sat there at the dinner table with the two of them, knowing that her son was having lustful thoughts about Gail. His own sister. Not that he had known, of course. Still, it was almost too much to contemplate.

Rowena thought about her daughter now. Gail certainly had her mother's spirit, and her diminutive size hadn't stopped her from being a formidable foe, so they certainly had that in common. And Gail had performed the most complex of spells to bring Dean Winchester back from the dead, using her mother's own spell book to do it. Rowena smiled. Now she had an unfamiliar feeling in her chest, as her heart swelled with pride at her daughter's accomplishment.

But as quickly as her heart was lifted, it sank again. At the end of the day, what did it really matter? Even if Gail were to find out about their true relationship, what would happen then? Warm and fuzzy family get-togethers? What would Christmas be like? Maybe they could have a blended celebration. Save the morning for pagan rituals and orgies, and in the evening, share a turkey with Frank, and the Winchesters. Then, at the end of the meal, Castiel could stab Crowley with the carving knife and throw Rowena into the fireplace, to roast with the chestnuts. What a heartwarming family Christmas special that would make.

Rowena's head nodded once, then twice, and then she started to doze.

Crowley was already waiting in the hallway outside the courtroom in the morning when Cas and Gail and Sam got there. "Let's wrap this up," he said to Cas. "Once we get Dean released, you can come back with me. We'll get Mummy Dearest to tell us where to find Raguel, and then you'll kill her for me, as agreed."

"What do you mean, 'get Dean released'?" Sam asked him, confused. "He was convicted yesterday."

"You know, for someone who hangs around Angels as much as you do, you don't have very much faith, do you, Moose?" Crowley said. He looked at Cas again. "Maybe you should have a chat with him about that, sometime."

"I'm not even going to bother to ask you how you think you're going to help us," Gail said wearily. "Instead, I'll just ask you this: Why?"

"I told you, sweetheart. Quid pro quo," Crowley insisted. "As I believe we've already covered, I can't kill my mother, because of that whole revival spell thingumybob. Your husband has agreed to take care of that little matter for me, in exchange for my assistance here today. Besides, I suppose I kind of owe Castiel for that whole not-waging-the-Holy-War thing. And it benefits us both to find and dispose of Raguel. Win-win. Or, is it win-win-win? Oh, well. Doesn't matter, as long as Raguel and Mother lose."

Gail nodded. OK, well, at least that part was situation normal. Crowley wanted something. That was why he was here, offering to help Dean. But, how was he going to do that? Lie on the stand? No, wait. The case was closed, and the verdict had already been read. What was Crowley's plan? Was he going to kill the judge and jury? No, Cas would never allow that. She looked sharply at her husband, and then she shook her head. No. She had to be able to trust Cas. If she couldn't, what did that say about their marriage?

They all walked into the courtroom together. Dean was already sitting there at the defense table, where he and Nick had been talking quietly.

Gail looked to the side of the room, and she was surprised to see the jury there. They had announced their verdict yesterday, and had been dismissed. So what were they doing back here now? She looked at Sam, and he gave her a half-shrug. He'd been wondering that, too.

"What's going on?" Sam asked Nick as the quartet sat down in their seats behind the defense table.

"I don't know," Nick said in a subdued tone. "They came in just a minute before you did. I'm hoping this means there might be an issue with the verdict. We'll have to wait and see."

Judge Pike rapped his gavel sharply. "Settle down, people. I'd like to bring this whole thing to a close, as soon as possible. Will counsel please rise?"

Nick and the DA stood, and the judge regarded them, frowning. "I'm well aware that people call me the 'Hanging Judge', and I have no problem with that," Pike said. "I believe that our justice system is far too lenient on criminals. I think that all killers should automatically receive the death penalty."

Gail gasped loudly, but the Judge was still talking: "Having said that, I feel compelled to say that I have never, in all my years on the bench, seen such a miserable excuse for a case in all my life. Mr. Armstrong, the so-called 'evidence' you presented here was so wafer-thin it was practically see-through. You wasted this Court's time, and you wasted the jury's time."

The DA stood there, open-mouthed. When he'd first talked to the Judge, the man had encouraged him to prosecute. Now, he was turning the whole thing around. What the hell was going on? But Pike had that sentence-you-to-contempt glare going on right now, so he'd better keep his mouth shut.

Then Judge Pike looked at the jury. "I'm hereby overturning your verdict. But I wanted to talk to all of you, before you leave this courtroom here today. Perhaps you're all taking your cue from us, as your civic leaders. Everybody is sick and tired of rapists and murderers walking among us, committing their crimes with seeming impunity. So am I, I can assure you. But the answer to that is not a knee-jerk reaction, either."

He looked at the defense table. "Will the Defendant please rise?"

As Dean got to his feet, Judge Pike looked to where Cas and Crowley were sitting again, just for an instant. Gail saw Crowley give the Judge a slight nod.

"You are free to go, Mr. Winchester," Judge Pike said. "I will not comment further except to advise you that if you ever come in front of this Court again, for any reason, I will not hesitate to bury you, both literally and figuratively. But for now, you are presumed innocent. Good day." He rapped his gavel once more, then rose and left the room.

Everyone started to talk at once. The DA looked at Nick, astonished. "What the hell did you do?" Mr. Armstrong said. "Blackmail him, or something?"

Nick raised an eyebrow. "I know you're not accusing a fellow member of the Bar of influencing a judge in a capital case in open court," he said dryly. Then he leaned towards Dean, rolling his eyes in a comic fashion.

Dean put out his hand for a shake. "Thanks a lot, Nick," he said. "Thanks a million."

"I didn't really do much, but you're welcome, anyway," Nick said good-naturedly, shaking Dean's hand. He lowered his voice. "I didn't blackmail the judge, of course, but something obviously happened that changed his mind."

As Sam was pumping Nick's hand, Gail was looking at Crowley. The instant the Judge had left the room, he had risen from his chair and done the same. But now he was back, smiling like the cat that ate the canary.

"What did you do?" Gail asked the King.

"I'll tell you what," he said casually. "Invite me back to the bat cave for a drink, and I'll tell you."

"It's morning," Cas pointed out, rather stiffly.

"I don't think that matters to Jean Valjean over there at the moment, do you?" Crowley quipped, nodding his head towards Dean.

"Well, I'll leave you to celebrate with your friends," Nick said.

"Thanks again, Nick," Sam said to his old college friend. "How much do we owe you?"

"This one's on me," Nick replied. "Buy me a beer sometime, when you feel like telling me what really happened." He turned and left the room, twirling his cane as he went.

Crowley looked at Dean. "Fancy a drink?"

They were back in the bunker now, and everyone but Cas had a drink in their hand. Even Gail had accepted the glass of whiskey that Dean had handed her. Cas had waved his hand absently and added ginger ale to her glass, and she smiled at him.

Cas was impatient to get his end of the bargain over and done with, but he knew his brother very well. Crowley was almost preening now, eager to accept their gratitude.

"OK, I'll be the one to say it," Sam said, clinking glasses with Dean. He didn't usually drink hard liquor in the morning, of course, but this was a special occasion. Dean was finally back home. Sam looked at Crowley. "What did you do back there?"

Crowley took a sip of his drink. "It just so happens that a certain Judge and I might have a passing acquaintance," he said, smirking.

"THAT'S why he was looking at you!" Gail exclaimed. "I was wondering about that."

Crowley nodded. "Right you are, sweetheart. Judge Thaddeus Pike. By day, he is a pillar of the community. But by night, as the expression goes...not so much." He took another sip of his drink, pausing for dramatic effect. "In just a few short months, a Supreme Court Justice will suddenly drop dead, leaving a vacancy, and a golden opportunity for Judge Pike to become the youngest sitting Judge ever on the Supreme Court. The Governor will recommend the good Judge to the President himself, who will then fast-track his appointment to the highest Court in the land."

They all nodded. A deal. Not particularly surprising. But: "What's he do at night?" Dean wanted to know.

"That's the interesting part," Crowley replied. "As it turns out, our Judge Pike is a pedophile, a creep of the worst order. But, to maintain his upstanding reputation, he simply can't afford to risk downloading certain select websites, or go cruising in certain areas. He has to stay deep, deep under the radar. He made a deal with one of my lieutenants a short while back, to put his career on the fast track. We would have been getting him anyway, of course, but he didn't want to wait. He wanted to reach the top of his profession immediately. Standard 10-year deal. It was a win-win for us."

"What do you mean, a 'win-win'?" Dean asked angrily. "The guy messes around with kids!"

Crowley shrugged. "Not my issue. His Honour made a deal with a lieutenant of Hell. Perhaps you've forgotten what sorts of individuals reside there. Bottom line is, we've got the soul, and a Supreme Court Justice is way more valuable than a Circuit Court Judge. As Rudy said, a win-win. You remember him, don't you, Castiel? One of my better assistants. Recently deceased, of course. It's so hard to keep good staff these days."

Gail slammed her glass down on the table. "You can quit needling my husband, and you can quit playing your stupid, cutesy games. They already know," she said tartly.

Crowley's eyebrows rose, but he let the subject alone for the moment. "Anyway, once my assistant met his unfortunate demise, I was forced to close the deal myself. So, once the Magistrate saw me in the courtroom yesterday, he sought to avoid my testimony by sending the case straight to the jury. I guess he was afraid of what I might have to say, under oath." Crowley smirked again. "So I paid a quick visit to his house last night and told him that if he did not overturn the verdict, I might just have to have a little chat with his wife, and then with the Governor, about a certain hobby of his. Then this morning, I popped into his chambers to make sure that Dean's record was expunged from the computer. The video that Mother presented as evidence has also mysteriously been destroyed."

Wow. They all looked at each other, amazed and appalled. What did they say now? What were they supposed to do?

"Uhhh...thanks, I guess," Dean said half-heartedly.

"Oh, please. You're overwhelming me with your enthusiasm," the King said sarcastically.

"Come on, Crowley, what did you expect?" Sam said irritably.

"Oh, I don't know, how about a little bloody gratitude?!" Crowley exclaimed. He looked at Gail. "What about you, sweetheart? Will you bite the bullet and take one for Team Free Will, then? You're usually good for a 'thank you' every once in a while."

"All right. I WILL say thank you," she said, giving him a head nod. "But you can understand how we feel too, right? Are we just supposed to look the other way when it comes to that Judge? I don't think we can do that, Crowley."

"We're not going to do that," Cas said, and suddenly, he disappeared.

Crowley poured himself another drink. "There you go," he said pleasantly. "Problem solved."

Gail rushed over to where the King of Hell stood, grabbing his arm. "Listen to me, and listen to me good," she said, tight-lipped. "Cas is God, not your private hit man. He'll go with you to find Raguel and take care of Rowena because those things benefit us, too. But that's it. Are we understood?"

"You're wrinkling my suit," he said coolly, but she dug her fingers further into his arm, hoping she was bruising his vessel. "I asked you if we were understood," she said icily.

"Yes," Crowley said in a clipped tone, and his eyes glowed red for a moment as she removed her hand.

"That's it, Chuckles. Happy Hour is over," Dean said to the King.

Crowley glared at the trio. "One day, Castiel will no longer be God," he said quietly. "Enjoy the protection, while you have it."

"Did you just threaten us in our own home?" Sam said incredulously.

"I'll leave that to you to decide," the King retorted. He drained his drink, putting the empty glass on the table. "Have Castiel call me on our frequency when he finishes his little errand," he said to Gail. "I'll give him the address then." He looked at Dean. "You're welcome." Then he walked over to the stairs. "You really need to get an elevator in here, Boys," was his parting shot as he climbed the stairs and exited the bunker.

Cas popped into Judge Pike's chambers. The man was sitting at his desk, doing paperwork. Cas put his hand on the Judge's head from behind, and began to search his mind. In less than a minute, he saw that Crowley had been telling the truth. Judge Pike was a human abomination, a horrible predator who had done unspeakable things to helpless children.

God reached into his blazer, took out his blade, and cut the Judge's throat with such ferocity that the man was almost decapitated. And then, just for good measure, Cas stabbed him again, and then again. Then he took Pike's hand and wrote his confession on the desk in blood, and then Cas winked himself away.

"Come on, Liz. Just one date. We don't even have to call it that, if you don't want to," Gabriel cajoled. "We can just say it's two friends getting together for a social occasion, possibly culminating in a few hours of white-hot sex. What could possibly be wrong with that?"

She smiled, shaking her head slowly. "Don't you ever give up?"

Gabe shrugged. "Hey, I'm an eternal being, who enjoys a challenge. Come on, Liz. I really like you."

"I'm married," she reminded him.

"Well, technically, you're not," he remarked. "It's 'till death do us part', isn't it?"

Liz regarded him evenly. She supposed he was right, in a way. Besides, it wasn't as if her marriage had been a good one. Gerald had been a selfish man, a male chauvinist pig who'd slept around on Liz all throughout their marriage. When she'd finally found out what he had been doing behind her back, he had thrown himself on her mercy, claiming that he was a sex addict. She'd done a little research and discovered that, apparently, that was a real thing. So, as saintly as she was, she had told Gerald that if he agreed to get counselling, she would stay with him. But then she had received her diagnosis, and soon after, it had become a moot point. She wondered what he was doing now. Hopefully, he had at least mourned her for a while. But Liz highly doubted that Gerald would be abstaining, so why should she?

Gabriel saw something in Liz's expression, so he said, "Say if you've died, and your spouse remarries. Are they cheating on you?"

"No, of course not," Liz replied automatically.

"Well then, shouldn't it be OK the other way around?" he argued persuasively.

Liz thought about that for a moment. "Okay, I get what you're saying," she mused, "but: what happens when the spouse dies, too?"

Gabriel smirked. "A really good time?" he quipped.

Liz giggled. Gabe could always make her laugh. But then her smile faded. "That's all right; I doubt that'll even be an issue in my case," she said sadly. "I'm pretty sure Gerald will be joining Crowley's team when he dies."

"What's going on, Liz?" Gabe said softly. "I can see it in your eyes, every time you talk about your husband. You can tell me. I know I make a lot of jokes, but I won't about this. I promise."

Liz eyed him for a moment, and then she sighed. She and Gabe had been friends for a while now and even though he was a rascal sometimes, she knew that he really cared about her. And she liked Gabriel, too. There was a vulnerable, childlike quality about him beneath all the brashness. So she told him about Gerald, and how things had really been between her and her husband.

Gabriel listened quietly, without comment. When Liz finished her story, he reached out and took one of her hands in both of his. "I could go down there and go all Archangel on his ass, if you want," Gabe said. Liz laughed. Then Gabriel's expression turned serious. "I'm sorry you were married to such an asshat," he said to her.

"Aren't you going to ask me WHY I married him?" Liz asked him. "Or why I stayed with him? That's what everybody always used to ask me."

"You married him because you loved him, and you stayed with him because you trusted him to do right by you," Gabriel said in a quiet voice.

Liz gave him a dubious look for a moment, but then she saw that he was being completely sincere. "Yes. That's exactly right," she said.

"You know, I talk a big game, but it turns out that I might know a little bit more about the subject than I let on," Gabriel told her. "And since you were good enough to tell me your story, I'll tell you mine."

When he was finished, Liz just sat there, speechless. Then she leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. "I'm so sorry, Gabriel."

"We're quite a pair, aren't we?" Gabe said with a wry smile. He was trying not to tear up now, but it was hard. Liz's sweet compassion was almost more than he could stand.

Liz knew that, of course. She knew Gabriel pretty well, and after hearing his heartbreaking story, she felt much closer to him now. And it had been good for Liz to unburden herself like that, too. But she wanted to let Gabriel off the hook now, so she smiled and said, "Hey! Stop talking about my breasts!"

Gabe did a double-take, and then he returned her smile. He snapped his fingers, shrugging. "Darn! You caught me!" he said, grinning.

"Pick me up after work," Liz said, and then she winked herself away, as Gabriel continued to smile.

Becky sat at her desk in Heaven, bored out of her skull. She had tried to get into Cas's office to see him, but Laurel had been sitting at the reception desk, taking messages for him. She'd told Becky that, since Cas and Gail had been attending Dean's trial on Earth every day, Laurel had taken it upon herself to come here whenever she had some free time, to take messages for Cas. Becky had asked Laurel to add her to the list of people who wanted to talk to him.

Becky was frustrated. Truthfully, she'd been frustrated for quite a while now, ever since she'd asked Cas at his party if he would let her go back down to Earth to stay. If he had only said yes right away, she could have been there for Sam, the whole time Dean had been in jail. All that time, wasted.

And now Becky was worried, too. Because Laurel had let it slip that Gail had moved out of the suite that she and Cas shared here in Heaven, and down to their house on Earth. But Gail was living there alone. Laurel had claimed that it was just because there was so much going on Earth at the moment. But if that was the case, Becky had asked Laurel, why wouldn't Cas be there, too? Laurel had been on the verge of speculating whether that particular arrangement had anything to do with the apparent fact that Patricia had nullified Cas and Gail's marriage, but she'd stopped herself at the last minute. Laurel was aware that Becky had been included in their circle at times, but now that Laurel and Chuck were romantically involved, Laurel knew a little bit more about young Becky, and not an awful lot of it was positive, in her opinion. So she had kept quiet.

But Becky's imagination supplied the rest. She could picture Cas being busy doing God stuff here in Heaven, and Gail, down there on Earth, hanging around the bunker with Sam. Cas had better keep an eye on those two, Becky fretted. Better still, he could let Becky go to Earth, so she could keep an eye on them herself.

It never once occurred to Becky to ask Laurel how Dean's trial was going.

Eric sat back on his couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table. He opened the envelope, taking the wad of cash out. He didn't even bother counting it any more. He had more than enough to live the way he wanted.

It was too bad you couldn't make money like this legally, he thought. A part of him felt guilty about what he was doing, though. His foster parents had raised him to obey the law. But once the teenager had discovered that he had the ability to teleport from location to location, he had started to stretch the boundaries at home. He'd slipped out past curfew more than a few times, and when his mom had caught him red-handed one night, he'd had to tell her what he'd been doing. And it was strange, too. She hadn't even seemed freaked out that he had the ability to just disappear from his room and suddenly appear somewhere else. All she'd said to him about it was that rules were rules, and she expected him to follow the house's rules as long as he lived under her roof. So then they'd had an argument that had lasted half the night, and after a couple of hours' sleep, Eric had thrown some things into a duffel bag and left the house.

He'd stayed at a buddy's place for a couple of days, and then slept in the park for a couple more. And just when Eric was about to give in and go home, that was when he had met Nuke. That wasn't the guy's real name, of course. Nobody knew what his real name was; maybe not even Nuke himself. They'd met in the park and started talking. Nuke had noticed that Eric was living rough, and he'd told his new friend that there was money to be made if he didn't mind doing something slightly shady. Eric had looked at him suspiciously, but when Nuke had laughed and said that he was talking about selling marijuana, Eric had told him that he was in. Technically, it was against the law, but a lot of people smoked pot. Even his foster parents had smoked it, way back in the olden days.

Because Eric had his special talent, he was able to move more product, and soon, Nuke's boss arranged to meet the young man. One thing had led to another, and now Eric was moving harder drugs and mystery packages for Mr. Rycroft. In order to be able to sleep at night, Eric distracted himself from wondering what was in those packages by taking the boatloads of money Mr. Rycroft was paying him and buying crap for his apartment. But sometimes, Eric wondered where his young life was going. Was this all there was to life? He'd used the computer at the library to send an e-mail to his mom to tell her that he was OK, but he knew that she would be dead-set against how he was living and what he was doing.

He often wondered who his real parents were, and if he had any other family out there. His mom had told him that she and his dad had gotten him from a lady who ran an adoption agency in Denver, Colorado, but that was all his mom had told him. Maybe he should go home and see her. But if he did, Eric wasn't sure what kind of reception he would get. His mom had always been pretty strict.

He stuffed the money in his pocket, and headed for the mall.

Oliver was miserable. With every day that went by, he was giving up hope of ever being able to move on from his house. No; Quinn's house, he amended to himself. Maybe God was punishing him for having been an Atheist all those years. But even though Oliver believed now, he was still being punished. He knew why, of course. Because he had lied to them all.

Oliver remembered everything. He'd never forgotten. He'd just said that he had, because he was so ashamed of himself. Vincent had never put an amnesia spell on his brother. Oliver had just told them that, because now that they knew about the horrible secrets his journal contained, he came off looking pretty bad. He'd known that Vincent had killed their parents and driven their brother Andy crazy, but Oliver had said nothing. He'd known that Vincent and Cathy were selling babies, and that Vincent was a voodoo Priest who used babies' blood and Lord only knew what else in his rituals, but Oliver had done nothing. He'd redacted his journal, all right. He'd redacted it just in case it was going to be used as evidence of his complicity.

He'd also known that Gail was his niece when Sam had brought her to the house a number of years ago. As soon as he'd shaken her hand, he'd known that she was Vincent's daughter. And he'd seen something in her eyes too, a fleeting look that suggested to him that a part of her had known about their familial relationship, as well.

Unbeknownst to Oliver, that part of Gail's mind had known that there was something about him as soon as she had met him, too. Something "off" about him, for lack of a better term. An unpleasant association, of some sort. So when she and Cas were labouring under their shared Demon delusion, Gail's imagination had placed Oliver in charge of the supposed seances with Rowena, simply because he was the only medium she had ever met. But her mind also associated him with suspicion and enmity, so that was why, even in her fantasy, the two of them had shared a strong dislike for one another.

Oliver had moved to Canada not because of any fear of the King of Hell, Cas, or Rowena, none of whom he had ever met, but in an effort to get away from his brother and the bad memories associated with this house. So, naturally, God was now punishing him by keeping him chained to this same house. When he had seen Gail and Cas at the fair in Vancouver, he had never actually met Cas before. Cas had imagined meeting Oliver there when he'd gone with his TV friends and undergone his atonements for his perceived transgressions against Gail and his friends. But there had never been any atonements, just mishaps that were sometimes merely a part of life. So that first so-called meeting had been a complete figment of Cas's imagination, just his mind telling him that he was scum. Confirming to him how he had felt about himself at the time. The time he and Gail actually had met Oliver at the fair, Oliver had been talking about Evil, but the evil entity he'd been talking about was his brother Vincent. Then at that moment, he'd heard Vincent's voice in his head, telling him to shoot himself with the gun he'd been carrying around for protection. So Oliver had shot himself as Vincent had commanded, but Cas had healed Oliver, prompting Vincent's brother's newfound belief in God. He'd had pentagram bullets in the gun because he'd been hoping for the opportunity to use them on Vincent one day. Sam had puzzled over why that gun had had pentagram bullets in it, but he had never been able to solve that mystery.

When Gail and the Winchesters had come here to see Oliver recently, he'd been hoping that her having read the journal would be enough to enable him to move on. But of course, it wasn't that easy. Then Vincent had come, pushing Oliver aside and doing his horrible things to Gail and her friends. Oliver had still been there to bear witness, but he'd been powerless to stop it. Then had come the most thrilling, most frightening moment of all, when God himself had come to defend Gail and her friends against Vincent. Oliver had silently cheered, and he'd been astonished and proud to discover that it was his niece's husband who was now God. The wrath of the Almighty was going to come down on Vincent now, for everything he had done.

But to Oliver's dismay, even God had been unable to kill Vincent, although he had hurt Oliver's brother a great deal. Still, the Lord had intimidated Vincent into leaving, so Oliver supposed that was something, anyway. He'd never seen anyone, or anything, intimidate Vincent before.

Then, when Oliver had finally been able to come back, they had been angry with him. And he couldn't blame them, in a way. But if God, the Almighty God, couldn't kill Vincent, what was an insignificant little ghost like Oliver supposed to do about him?

Vincent had known that Cathy would be dead by now, of course. He'd decided that she had become a liability. A security risk. Now that Gail's people knew where Cathy was, and suspected that there was a connection, it was only a matter of time. So he'd withheld her drink and not bothered to return her calls, and now he was seeing the evidence of her demise. She had been reduced to ashes, gristle and bones.

Vincent looked down at Cathy's desk chair, where her remains were. "This could be a PSA for workaholics," he quipped, smiling at his own joke.

Oh, well. No big loss. If he decided to make any more babies and wanted them unloaded, he could make other arrangements. But right now, he had something else in mind.

He glanced at the back room for a moment, but then, he shrugged. He still had the copies he'd made previously of the confidential files. The kids who interested him the most. Gail, Rob, Eric, Lucas, etc., etc. Now the question was, what was he gonna do with them?

He'd had no luck finding the Books. None. Vincent wasn't used to failure, and it was pissing him off. He'd wanted the damn Book of the Dead before he called his kids to him. Now, he was undecided: chicken, or egg? Should be keep looking for the Books, or should he set up the testing facility now, and get started with the kids first? Eeny, meeny, chili beanie...

"'Bye, Cathy," he said to the dust on the chair. "For all the times you did it for me, allow me to return the favour." He leaned down, puckered his lips, and then blew on her ashes until they dissipated. Then he snapped his fingers and vanished.

Cas had gone to wherever Crowley was holding Rowena now, and Gail had stayed behind. Cas had told her that he didn't want her anywhere in the vicinity when he and Crowley confronted Raguel, and he'd been very adamant about it. She was fine with that. She was still mad at Crowley anyway, and she felt no urge to see Rowena again. And as curious as she was about Raguel, he obviously scared Cas more than a little, so he was clearly no one to mess around with. But Cas had assured his wife that he and Crowley as a combined force should be able to take Raguel down. He would call her as soon as he could. Then he had given her a hug and a kiss, said goodbye to Sam and Dean, and then winked out.

Sam and Dean had continued to drink, and Gail noticed with some amusement that Sam was getting drunk now. Her friend was unused to day-drinking, and it was showing. His face was flushed, and his hair was hanging down over his forehead.

"To Dean, being home," Sam toasted. Gail was done drinking, but Dean toasted with his brother. But then, Dean put his glass down. "Maybe we'd better have a little breakfast, Sammy," he said.

"Oh, and two guesses who'll be cooking that," Sam said dryly.

Dean smirked. His little brother was just too easy. He winked at Gail.

"Well, you can't expect ME to do it," Dean said. "I just got sprung from the Big House. Things were rough there, you know. Lots of real bad hombres in there, just looking to take you down."

"The last time I came to visit you there, one of the guard's wives was bringing you home-baked cookies," Gail pointed out.

"Nobody likes a snitch, Gail," Dean admonished her.

She grinned. "I'd better watch my back, then, in case you shank me. I've watched prison movies, you know."

"I'm surprised he didn't have a poster of Baby on the wall by his bed," Sam wisecracked.

"Baby?! What about Nicole?" Gail teased.

The brothers lapsed into silence. Gail looked from one man to another, and then back again. "OK, what's going on, you guys? Anytime I mention either one of your girlfriends, you guys look at each other, and then you clam up."

"We'll show you ours if you show us yours," Sam retorted.

"Mind your manners; I'm a married woman," she quipped.

"Are you?" Sam asked her pointedly. "Because, from what Bobby tells us, you AREN'T. Why didn't you guys tell us what was going on?"

"We've all had so much going on, we just never got around to it," Gail told them with a half-shrug. "It's not that big of a deal. We just have to go through some sort of ancient Enochian whatever, and then we're going to hit the reset button. We're fine, you guys. I'm just living in our house here on Earth for convenience right now, that's all. But, Cas has to stay in Heaven."

"You're separated?!" Dean exclaimed. "When were you gonna tell us about THAT?"

"Hey, when did this conversation become about me and Cas? she said, annoyed. "I was talking about you guys, and your girlfriends. What's going on, there? Every time I bring up the subject, I get stonewalled. Come on, give."

Sam glanced at Dean. "We agreed to stay off the subject as much as possible," he said uncomfortably.

Dean set his drink down on the table. "His girlfriend thinks my girlfriend's a monster," he said bluntly.

"That's not what she said, Dean," Sam insisted.

"No?" he retorted. "So, I guess a woman ripping a guy's heart out of his chest and eating it is just some kind of weird foreplay where Quinn comes from?"

"What?!" Gail exclaimed. Then the brothers told her about Quinn's visions, and Gail sat back in her chair. Huh. She had no idea what to make of that. But it worried her a little. How good WAS Quinn, actually? So that was the reason for the tension between the brothers whenever girlfriends were discussed. It was understandable, really.

"Quinn also thinks there's something going on between you and me," Sam blurted out. He finished his drink and reached for the bottle again. Dean looked at his brother sharply.

Gail laughed. "Okay, now she's just delusional." As Sam's face fell, she put her hand on his arm. "Oh, Sam, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. But you've got to admit, that's pretty out there. I mean, come on."

"You don't have to protest THAT strongly," he said, his lips twitching. Gail laughed again. She remembered that time, when they were all talking to Stu the numerologist, and Sam was put on the spot. If he'd protested that he had no interest in Gail that way too vociferously, she got mad at him. But then, if Sam went the other way and said he found Gail attractive, Cas got mad. It was a lose-lose proposition.

"You got me, there," Gail told Sam. "I'll tell you what. Why don't I make you guys breakfast? I'm just hanging around waiting for Cas, anyway."

"Sounds good," Sam said. He got up from his chair intending to go to the kitchen, but he stumbled. Gail rushed forward to help him right himself, but he was so off-balance that the two of them ended up going down to the floor in a heap.

"Oof," Gail said, wincing. "Now I know why Crowley calls you 'Moose'," she said to Sam, pushing at him. "I'd better cook you a low-cal breakfast."

He didn't respond. She looked at his face, suspicious. His eyes were closed. No way. Then Sam emitted a loud, snorking noise.

"Dean! Help! He's passed out," Gail exclaimed. She was grunting with the effort of trying to push him off of her.

"I'll be right there; I'm just getting my cell phone," Dean said gleefully. He snapped a picture. "I'll have to send this to Frank and get him to put a funny caption on it. Better still, I think I'll blackmail you with it. How much is it worth to you to make sure the Almighty doesn't see this?"

Gail winked out from underneath Sam and appeared suddenly beside Dean, punching him on the arm. "Ow!" he exclaimed.

"Serves you right," she retorted. "Here, gimme that phone."

Dean shoved it in his back pocket. "Just try it," he gloated. "You've already been caught with Sleeping Beauty over there. Do you really want Cas to see you reaching for my butt?"

Gail rolled her eyes. "Fine, then. Make your own breakfast." But then, her expression softened. "I'm so glad you're home, Dean. Say goodbye to Sleeping Beauty for me."

She gave Dean a quick kiss on the cheek and then winked herself out of the bunker.

Seconds later, Gail reappeared on the steps leading up to the porch of Quinn's house. Hopefully, Cas was too busy getting rid of Rowena and Raguel to be watching her now. He would probably be mad at her for coming here alone. Look at what had happened the last time. But she felt bad for Sam. What Quinn had said about Nicole was bad enough, but Gail couldn't let what she had said about her and Sam stand. Where the hell would Sam's girlfriend get an idea like that from?

"Hi, Gail, how are you?" Quinn said when she answered the door. She looked behind the Angel. "Where's Cas? Where are the guys? What happened with Dean?" She opened the door wider to let Gail in the house. "Come through to the kitchen, if you want," Quinn continued. "I was just finishing breakfast. Do you want a cup of - " She stopped herself, laughing shortly. "Sorry, I keep forgetting."

"That's OK," Gail said, sitting down at the kitchen table. "To answer your questions, I'll take the big one first: Dean's out of jail. It's a long story, but the bottom line is, he's been acquitted. He and Sam were celebrating this morning, but Sam got a little carried away. You'll probably hear from him later, after he sleeps it off."

Quinn poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table, looking at Gail. "Are you here to see Oliver?" she asked the Angel.

"No, I'm actually here to see you, Quinn," Gail replied. She took a deep breath, then let it out. "Is it true you said that you think there's something going on between me and Sam?" she asked the medium.

Quinn frowned. "Did he tell you that? I didn't think he would."

"So, it's true," Gail said, surprised. A large part of her had been hoping that Sam had just exaggerated, or misunderstood. "Why would you think that, Quinn?" Gail continued to say. "I love Sam like a brother. There's never been anything like that going on between us. Never. I'm head over heels in love with Cas. I always have been. And Cas and I are married. I take my vows very seriously."

"But you won't be married soon, will you?" Quinn asked Gail bluntly. "You're not even living together."

"How did you know that?" Gail said, and Quinn gave her a look. Oh. Right.

"Sam's in love with you," Quinn went on, her gaze steady. "He always has been, ever since the day he met you. I can feel it every time we're, you know..."

Aw, crap. Why had Gail ever thought that this would be a good idea? Now she'd opened up the can, and the worms were crawling all over the place. "Look, Quinn," she said quietly, "even if that was true, and I'm not saying it is, you have absolutely no reason to worry about that. None. Cas and I have a bit of a personal issue going on right now, but it's just a bump in the road. That's all. We're madly in love, and we're going to remarry. Actually, I'm surprised you wouldn't already know that. If you want to, you can take my hand. Here." She grabbed Quinn's hand across the table. "Read me. Go ahead. I'm an open book."

Quinn saw Cas and Gail together, kissing and holding hands. Then she saw them with Sam and Dean in some kind of a tropical setting. At first, Quinn felt a little put out: where was she? Where was Nicole? But then, she realized that the four of them weren't there for a holiday. They were there because they had to find Gail's father, before it was too late. Gail's father, the man who starred almost every night in Quinn's nightmares, these days. Ever since the day that Vincent had been here, Quinn had been on edge, afraid he would come back. And it didn't help that Oliver was still tethered to the house, and Oliver was terrified of his brother. He and Quinn had argued about that. Oliver was already dead, Quinn had said, exasperated. What did he have to fear, then? But Oliver had retorted that if Vincent got a hold of the Book of the Dead, that fact would cease to matter. No, Quinn wanted nothing to do with Vincent.

But now, as she held Gail's hand, Quinn was seeing Vincent anyway. He was talking to a shorter man with dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard, and when the shorter man spoke, he spoke with an English accent.

"Is Frank your only brother?" Quinn asked Gail, pulling her hand away. She didn't want to look at Vincent's face any more, because Quinn had the creepy feeling that he was looking right back at her, even in the vision.

Gail looked at Sam's girlfriend, puzzled. What did that have to do with anything? She opened up her mouth to answer, and then she closed it again. Actually, that wasn't a very easy question to answer, when you were in Gail's situation. "Why do you ask?" she settled for.

Quinn told her what she'd seen, and Gail pursed her lips together angrily. Crowley! It had to be. Crowley and Vincent, Vincent and Crowley. Once Cas killed Rowena for Crowley, Gail and the King of Hell were going to have a wee little chat. Gail's lips twitched. It was a good thing that Quinn hadn't been holding her hand for that particular little gem. Gail could tell by the expression on the woman's face that she was leery about the whole lot of them right now as it was. And really, who could blame her?

Quinn frowned again. "Look, Gail, you seem like a very nice person. You and Cas, both. But whenever I have any visions involving you guys, all I see is death, and blood, and destruction."

Gail was dismayed. "I'm sorry, Quinn. The last thing I wanted to do was bring all that crap in here and dump it in your lap. But please don't take it out on Sam. He's a good guy, and I know he likes you a lot."

Quinn sighed. "And I'm sorry too, Gail. I don't know why I said what I said. I know there's nothing going on between you and Sam."

"OK. Good. Well, OK, then," Gail said awkwardly. Now she was debating whether or not to say anything about Nicole. But Gail was getting a vibe from Quinn now. It was Quinn who was the psychic, but Gail was getting a very strong feeling that Sam's girlfriend wanted her to leave, but couldn't quite figure out how to tell her so without being rude.

As Gail was trying to work out whether or not she wanted to talk to Quinn any longer, she was saved by the bell. In a manner of speaking.

"Cas is calling me," she said, smiling, and Quinn relaxed. She hadn't sincerely believed there was anything that amiss in Cas and Gail's marriage. Quinn had likely just been using that as an excuse. She had actually been considering breaking up with Sam, just to be rid of all of them. Well, everyone except for Oliver, of course. The Ghost Who Wouldn't Leave. In fact, his continued presence might be the only reason that Quinn hadn't severed her ties with them already. But, no one could honestly believe that Gail wasn't still head over heels in love with her husband if they were to see Gail's face right now. She just had a different look about her when she mentioned his name.

"Sorry, Quinn, I've got to go," Gail told the psychic. "I hope you feel better about everything now. Do you mind if I just pop out from here?"

"Not at all," Quinn replied. But that was it. That was all she said. Gail sighed inwardly. She guessed she understood how Quinn felt, but it was a shame that things had to be so uncomfortable between all of them at the moment. She wondered, when they saw Nicole next, if it would be the same thing with Dean's girlfriend. Of course, it might help if Dean didn't shut Nicole out so much. Here they had been, celebrating the fact that Dean had been released, and at last report, Nicole didn't even know that Dean had been arrested. But that was Dean's business. Gail's meddling days were officially over.

She said goodbye to Quinn and popped out.

Cas had not sounded happy when he'd called her, and Gail soon found out why, as soon as she got there.

"They're both gone?" she asked the men incredulously. "How did that happen?"

Crowley was sitting morosely in the chair opposite where Rowena had been sitting, up until a few minutes ago. "She summoned Raguel here, telling him that she was alone, and needed rescuing," the King of Hell said in a clipped tone.

"OK, so...I thought that was what you wanted," Gail said, bewildered.

"Too true," Crowley remarked sardonically, looking at Cas, who was pacing the floor angrily. "But Raguel showed up with a little item from Heaven's arsenal, didn't he, Castiel?"

"I told you, I didn't know he had the torch," Cas said, tight-lipped. "Had I known, I would have made preparations."

"Torch?" Gail inquired. "What are you talking about?"

"Never you mind," Crowley said irascibly.

"Are you all right, sweetie?" Gail asked Cas.

"Of course HE'S okay. He's bloody God, isn't he?" Crowley exclaimed. "It's ME who had to dodge the Holy fire that came out of the thing! All it gave your husband was a nice, brown tan."

Cas put his arms around his wife, attempting to comfort her. "It's all right, my love," he told her. "If anything, Gabriel should have told me that the weapon was missing. He should have sensed it. You didn't know about the torch."

Gail completely forgot about the ring that Gabriel had mentioned to her a while back, in her distress that Raguel and Rowena had gotten away. And now, Crowley was needling her: "Look, I know that you only care about your husband to the exclusion of all else, Hester Prynne, but - "

"What? What did you call me?" Gail said, startled. She pried herself out of Cas's arms and approached the chair where Crowley was sitting.

"It's a literary reference," he said airily. He finished the drink he'd been holding and snapped his fingers, freshening his glass immediately. He'd been shaken up by the incident, more so than he wanted to admit. If his reflexes hadn't been as sharp as they were, the King of Hell would be a smoking puddle of black goo on the floor right now. It would certainly have been nice to know that Raguel had had that bloody torch. And while he didn't really believe that there had been any malice on the Angels' part, he was still not very pleased about it.

"I know what that is," Gail shot back. "I'm well-read, you know. I used to be an avid reader as a child, until I was made to flee my home," she added pointedly. Crowley's reference to The Scarlet Letter had gotten under her skin. First, Quinn says something along those lines, and now Crowley? Where the hell did they get off? "You'd better not be suggesting that I'm stepping out on my husband, because if you are, you and I can have a go, right now," she said to Crowley, raising her voice.

He raised an eyebrow to her. "You'd better have a chat with your wife, Castiel," the King said, bemused. "I think she's been spending a little too much time with your Winchesters." He gave Gail a sarcastic smile. "I wasn't referring to your 'stepping out' on Castiel, as you so charmingly put it," Crowley said to her. "My apologies for the misunderstanding. I should have called you Priscilla, instead."

"What's your point?" she asked him, making a face.

"My point, sweetheart, is that you and John Alden over there are the most duplicitous people I've ever had the misfortune to be involved with," Crowley rasped. "It wouldn't surprise me one bit to discover that you two were setting me up all along. You're an accomplished liar, after all, aren't you, Gail?"

"Look, I don't know what happened here before I got here, but YOU'VE got a lot of nerve, calling ME a liar. You, of all people," Gail said to him. "I'm telling you the truth. We didn't set you up."

Crowley took another sip of his drink. "Well, regardless, you and Castiel deserved what you got in New England."

Now, Gail was enraged. "How dare you?!" she shouted at him. "Just because you didn't get your way, and your mother is still alive? Are you really that childish and petty? You have no idea what happened to us in New England! No idea. You need to keep your big mouth shut."

"I have a pretty good idea what might have happened," Crowley said coolly. "And I still say it serves you right."

"Get this through your thick skull," Gail said through clenched teeth. "You don't own me. You never did, although Lord knows, you tried. But that was centuries ago, and so was that other mess, in Camelot. And you'd better not be trying to say that I cheated on YOU, back then. The circumstances of that era forced me into a so-called marriage with you. But it was always Cas I was meant to be with, it will always be Cas, and everyone needs to acknowledge that, and just shut up about it!"

"Why are you so rant-y, all of a sudden?" Crowley asked her. He gestured with his glass. "Do you want me to snap you up one of these? Maybe a drink or three will calm you down. Then, you could invite Lover Boy over there back to your place on Earth. The sex is always a lot more exciting when it's out of wedlock, isn't it, Guinevere?"

Gail had had it with him. But it was strange; Cas had been suspiciously silent throughout their whole argument. She looked at her husband now. He was standing still, staring at the wall, apparently lost in thought.

"Cas? Do you want to get in on this, or are you just going to let him talk to me like that?" Gail said to her husband, maybe in a sharper tone than she had intended.

"Hmm? Oh. Yes," Cas said distractedly.

Now Gail knew for sure that he hadn't been paying attention. She walked over to him. "What's the matter, sweetie?" she said softly.

Cas HAD been preoccupied. Before Raguel had seized Rowena by the arm and winked them both out of there, he had looked at Castiel and said, "That was just a taste, Castiel. If you will not do your job properly, I will have no choice but to do it for you. Once I recover the rest of the Book of Life, prepare to lose all you hold dear." Then he had popped them out.

Cas was thinking about that now. So THAT was what that had been. Other than the Father Himself, the only things that had the power to do what they had experienced in the bunker were the Books of Life, and of the Dead. Every long-standing Angel knew about those Books. They were the stuff of legend. Just one page from either of those ancient tomes was enough to alter the fabric of history, albeit temporarily, if it was just one page. Raguel must have gotten his hands on a flyleaf from the Book, and used it to prove a point. But what would that point have been, exactly? Raguel was the Angel of Wrath, but now that Cas had been cured of his disease, he was no longer interested in wrath, just for wrath's sake. If righteous anger was warranted, he would be more than willing to apply it. But Cas wanted more than anything to be a kind, loving, and compassionate God. That was his real job, as far as he was concerned. And he had a very good idea as to how he wanted to start.

"Let's go, my love," Cas said to his wife. Then he winked them out of there, leaving a very disgruntled King of Hell behind.

Ammit stood at the edge of the Lake of Fire, looking down. She could hear the screams of agony coming from the hapless souls she had just thrown in there. She took a deep breath, inhaling all the misery as a human with a head cold would inhale a medicine that cleared the sinuses.

As always, she felt the rush of power that arose from the influx of fresh souls. But, that power was fleeting. It wasn't enough. Not nearly enough for the level of power she was going to need if she hoped to compete on a level playing field with Raguel, Papa Legba, or God. Ammit was tired of waiting here by the Lake for the trickle of souls that came her way. She had stood aside, observing, while Raguel attempted to jump-start the Holy War. Ammit had been all for it. She'd been looking forward to receiving a vast influx of souls once the War began. But there had been no War, and she was growing impatient now.

The Archangel had apparently stumbled upon a flyleaf page of the Book of Life and used it up, seemingly on a whim. And the voodoo Priest had been flitting around on Earth, albeit covertly, watching his offspring. The vultures were circling, and it didn't seem as though they were planning to play by the usual code of conduct. So, if they didn't, why should she?

Ammit winked herself away.


	3. The Day We Meet Again

Chapter 3 - The Day We Meet Again

Cas was holding Gail close. After they'd left Crowley to wallow in his misery, Cas had winked the two of them over to their house on Earth, where she was staying. There, he had told her about what Raguel had said, and about the terrifying world that he had existed in as a result of the spell that the Archangel had cast, using the flyleaf from the Book of Life.

"So...what?" Gail said slowly, trying to follow him. "Are you saying that Book can open up alternate universes?"

"No," Cas said, agitated. "It's a lot worse than that. Those Books can alter the fabric of history. Depending on who holds the Book, and what spell they decide to cast, they can change all of our lives irrevocably."

Gail's heart sank. "So, you were really a Knight of Hell, under this Abbadon person? What's she like? Is she good-looking?"

Cas had looked at his wife for a moment and then, somewhat unexpectedly, he threw his head back and laughed. He laughed until tears sprang to his eyes.

When he'd finished, Cas wiped his eyes, pulling Gail close to him. "You are the cutest person I have ever had the privilege to meet, in all my millennia of existence," he told her, kissing her gently on the forehead. Then he looked into her eyes. "If I did not have you, I would not want to live. That was why I was so frightened when you disappeared from the bunker. But there's something that I don't understand. If I had fought Lucifer in Heaven all those years ago and lost, the scenario that Raguel had mapped out for me is one thing. I can even see Abbadon taking the throne instead of Crowley, because there was a time when she came very close to doing so. Dean ended up killing her before that happened. But if I had never rescued Dean from Hell, he wouldn't have had the opportunity. That explains why Sam disappeared from the bunker, and why the bunker was crumbling around us. If Abbadon had gone on unchecked, she would clearly have destroyed every last vestige of the Men of Letters. I would never have met Dean or Sam, or you." He held her tighter, then said, "But, I'm puzzled. You should have had an existence, even apart from me. You said you went somewhere dark, and that was it?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "It was just that. Darkness. Nothingness."

Cas frowned deeply. "You were in the Void. You must have been. That's the only explanation."

Gail didn't like the sound of that. "What does that mean, Cas?"

"It means that you were never born," he said grimly. "But why would you not have been born?"

Her forehead wrinkled. "I don't know," she said, dazedly. "Unless that means in this other time-frame, for lack of a better term, that Vincent doesn't exist. Hmmmm. That's too bad. If you and Dean weren't stuck in Hell, I'd say that's not a bad trade-off," Gail quipped.

"I know you're joking, but please don't ever say that, my darling," Cas said earnestly. "I meant what I said. If you were never born, I would prefer to be dead. Will you please consider coming back to me? Please? The suffering I underwent when I was a Knight of Hell pales in comparison to the suffering I feel when you and I are apart."

Gail shook her head slowly, smiling at him. "I see that being God hasn't taken away any of your charm." She kissed him on the lips. "You know what, Cas? I don't want to be apart from you, either. This was a stupid idea. I'll pack some clothes and come back. What the heck. I'm an otherworldly being. If Jody needs me, I'll just tell her or Frank to call you, or call my office in Heaven."

Cas's face lit up. "Really? You'll come back?"

Gail nodded. "Just don't tell anybody we're living in sin. You'll be setting a bad example."

Cas laughed. What a blessing that she could always make him laugh like this, no matter how bad the circumstances around them were. "I'll help you pack, my love."

He winked them into the bedroom. "Hello, Ralph," Cas said. "I've missed you, too."

Gail was in the middle of taking a suitcase out of the closet when she froze. Ralph. There was a tickle in her brain now. What was it about Ralph?

But then Cas was putting his arms around her from behind, and when he lifted her top and caressed her bare skin, Gail dropped the suitcase on the floor. "What am I doing? You're God; I'm sure you can just zap my clothes to our suite, right?" she said to him.

"Right," he said, leaning down to kiss her neck. "But right now, I'm more interested in removing them than I am in transporting them."

Sounded good to her. They may not technically be married right at the moment, but Gail didn't really care. Cas was unzipping her pants with one hand now, and pulling her top off with the other. Then he waved his hand, and her clothes disappeared altogether.

"I enjoy packing," he said in her ear, and she laughed. "I think I'm about to enjoy it, too," Gail said softly. Then she smiled again. She could feel Cas pressing against her now. "Apparently, you packed your clothes, too," she quipped.

"Well, I believe in being efficient," he remarked in a light tone. He kissed her ear delicately. "Would you like to lay down?"

"Not necessarily," she replied, raising an eyebrow. Not that he could see, of course, from the position they were in now. She winked them over to the edge of the bed. "I think we'll start here," she said. She leaned forward, standing with her legs further apart. Cas pushed gently into her from behind, and she made a sound. He started to move in and out, slowly at first, then faster. Gail was extremely excited now. Their abstinence always made it more exciting, when they eventually got back together in this way. Cas had his hands on her hips, and he was moving her against him. Then he reached around and touched her with a couple of fingers, pushing forward at the same time, and she cried out his name. He wrapped his other arm around her waist, moving his fingers quickly, murmuring how much he loved her.

An hour or so later, when they lay together resting, Cas said, "I need to find out where Felicia is, Gail. It's been weighing on my mind that I can't find her in the Garden."

She eyed him. "You're not still thinking of having a hearing for her once you find her, are you?"

Cas sighed. "No, my love. That was the disease talking. I just want to find her. What Mark did to her was so wrong that it defies description. I just want to make sure that she's all right. I intend to be a compassionate and loving God. Raguel is not going to have his way."

"That's wonderful, Cas. I'm glad to hear that."

"Unfortunately, that means we will have to invite a certain individual over for dinner," Cas said, frowning. "Do you mind terribly if he comes here? I don't believe he would want to go to Heaven to meet with me there, and we have the kitchen facilities here. But this is your home, my darling. If you object, I will not ask him to come."

Now it was Gail's turn to sigh. "A dinner party for Death. Great. You know what, Cas? If my younger self could meet me now, I think she'd run away screaming. Whose life IS this, anyway?"

Cas smiled faintly. "I agree that many of the situations we find ourselves in are very strange, indeed. But as long as we are sharing these experiences together, I would want no other life."

Gail snuggled against her husband. Only Cas could take something like having to invite Death into your home and make it sound like a romantic escapade. "Set it up," she told him.

But Cas had an agenda which extended beyond Felicia, and as they debated what dish to serve, he told Gail what it was. She was impressed with the way he was thinking, but she was afraid that it might be a little ambitious. But it was certainly worth a try, and it would be wonderful if they could pull it off.

When they were ready to receive his company, Cas extended the invitation, and Death rapped on their door a couple of minutes later. Cas answered his knock, swinging the door open. "Welcome to our home," he said formally, dipping his head in a small bow.

Oh, wow, Gail thought. What was she supposed to do now? Curtsy? As Death moved past Cas into the house, she looked up at him and said, "Can I take your...stick?"

Death looked down at Gail, and she swore she could see his mouth twitch, just for a moment. But then again, that might have been a trick of the lighting in the hallway. He walked on past her, and she gave Cas an apologetic half-shrug.

Cas was trying not to laugh. His wife was just too adorable. He supposed he should have given her a bit of advice on the old-fashioned code of conduct that ancient beings like himself and Death generally employed. But even though he and Gail had had brief existences together in other eras, this Gail was a modern woman, a product of the Internet era. Her offer to make Death comfortable had been a genuine one. She would have no way of knowing that Death never relinquished his walking stick, because it held a tremendous amount of power. Cas hoped that Death hadn't held that little breach of protocol against his wife.

"Please, have a seat at our table," Cas said to Death. "We have something for you that I am fairly confident you will enjoy."

Death sat down at the end of the table. Gail had set the table with care, using their nicest china and silverware, and cloth napkins. Then, when she was in the kitchen getting the wine glasses, Cas had deftly switched the silverware around, smiling gently. Gail didn't play hostess very often, and when she did, it was for their human friends. Men like Sam and Dean and Frank wouldn't notice or care if the table was properly set. But Death would.

Death looked at the surface of the dining room table. He didn't show it, but he was pleasantly surprised. He hadn't seen a properly set table in aeons. When you dealt with individuals like the flannel-shirted, gun-toting, jeans-wearing Winchesters, the rules of etiquette generally went by the wayside.

"We will be joining you this evening, if that is all right," Cas said, sitting across the table from Death. "I find it to be more civilized when you dine with company." He picked up the bottle of wine that was sitting in the middle of the table, gesturing. Death gave him a slight nod, and Cas began to pour.

"I think you'll really enjoy the dish," Gail said. "Tonight, we're serving drob de miel."

Death's eyebrows shot up towards his hairline. "Is it authentic?" he asked.

Gail felt a quip coming on, but she bit the inside of her cheek. What did he think? That they had used Drob De Miel Helper, or something? "Yes, it's homemade," she replied politely. "I'll bring it out now, if you'd like."

Death inclined his head. "Please do." As Gail went to the kitchen, Death looked at Cas. "I was glad to see that there was no Holy War," he said pointedly.

"Nor will there be one," Cas said hastily. "Not coming from my corner, at least. I am not interested in aggression. I am interested in compassion."

"That's a novel approach coming from you, Castiel," Death remarked dryly. "Still, it is probably the most sensible one to take."

Cas pursed his lips tightly together. He didn't really appreciate that little dig, but since he was looking for a couple of favours, he let it go. He raised his glass in a toasting gesture and Death had a sip, then Castiel followed suit.

Gail brought out the casserole dish and set it down on the table by Death. "Would you like me to serve you, or would you like to help yourself?" she asked him deferentially.

Death looked at her curiously, and then he looked at Cas again. "Whatever the two of you are looking for from me, it must be a very big favour. I haven't had drob de miel in centuries. Please, take your seat," he said to Gail. "I know it goes against your grain to serve a man. Besides, I want to savour the experience."

Gail took her seat beside Cas, and her husband poured her a glass of wine. Then he took her hand under the table and gave it a brief squeeze, for reassurance.

Death used the ladle to spoon some food onto his plate. He inhaled the aroma deeply, then he picked up his fork and took a taste. Then he put his fork gently down on the plate. He chewed slowly, swallowed, and then said, "It's very good. This reminds me of a simpler time. In many ways, life is too fast these days, isn't it, Castiel? No one takes the time to just sit down and enjoy a good meal, or some decent conversation. Everyone is looking at their cellular phones, or other hand-held devices. Do you do that?"

It took Gail a moment to realize he was talking to her. "I don't even own a cell phone," she told him. "Although I have to confess, I play Candy Crush on Castiel's phone. Actually, now that we're on the subject, I'm considering asking you to send one of your Reapers to the home of whoever decided to put bombs in that game," she quipped nervously. Oh, God. She was babbling.

There was that almost imperceptible twitch of his lips again. But he said nothing, just picked up his fork again and started to eat. Gail grabbed her wine glass and took a long drink. She'd better keep her mouth shut, before she started babbling again.

After a couple of minutes, Death dabbed his mouth with his napkin. "My compliments," he said. "Ask your favour, Castiel."

Cas explained that he had been unable to locate Felicia in the Garden, and Death nodded. "That is because I took her to Limbo," he said. As Cas and Gail exchanged surprised glances, Death explained how he had taken Felicia's essence as she lay dying in the alleyway, and then transported her vessel to Limbo.

"I thought it best that she be taken off the board, in case either Mark or Lucifer got hold of her," Death told them. "The main goal at the time was to eradicate Lucifer. So I transported her there, because only God or myself can access that realm. I was going to let the sitting God decide on her disposition. But when Patricia was elected and I received word that she was behaving like a tyrant, I decided to wait. Then when you took over, Castiel, word reached me again that you were contemplating a Holy War. Therefore, I continued to wait, until such time as things seemed a little more...stable. I was in no hurry. Are you looking to ascend her?"

"I'm looking to talk to her," Cas said evasively. "I might have something else in mind, if you are agreeable."

Cas explained what he had been thinking, and Death's eyebrows rose. "That is quite a proposition," he remarked expressionlessly, placing his napkin on the table beside his plate. "I will consider it, because I enjoyed the drob de miel so much. Thank you for making it, Gail."

"You're welcome, but it's actually Castiel you should be thanking," she told him. "He's the one who made it."

Death's eyebrow rose even higher. "Really?"

"Yes," Cas confirmed. "I received the recipe in Romania, from a very kind woman named Klara. When Gail and I were trying to decide what you might like to eat, I remembered, and I thought you might enjoy it as much as I do. I gathered the vegetables myself, and slaughtered and eviscerated the animals so that the ingredients would be fresh."

Gail pressed her lips tightly together again, against all the quips that were clamouring to get out. Good Lord. Most people would be a little grossed out by what Cas had just said, especially at the dinner table. But Death merely tilted his head in appreciation of Cas's efforts. Holy moly. She felt like her head was going to explode. She would have to remember to tell Frank about all of this, later on. They could have a contest to see which of them could come up with the best jokes.

"As you know, I am not long on sentiment," Death said, sitting back in his chair. "However, I do have a highly developed sense of what is fair. Many people believe that it is not fair for children to die, for instance. But I submit to you that it is entirely fair. That may make it seem that I am a heartless individual, but I do not care. If it is one's time, it is one's time. It does not matter one whit if the individual in question is one day old, or one hundred years old. Every soul has value. That is why beings like Crowley have been able to flourish over the centuries, and it is a big reason for the contention between the realms. As the ultimate arbiter, I provide a sense of balance. There are those who seek to unbalance things, to suit their own personal agendas. Beings like Lucifer. That was why it was so important that he be dealt with. But, there are others, who seek to do the same. The two of you are starting to find that out now. Soon, you will be charged with the daunting task of preventing them from acquiring the Books. Raguel was right, Castiel. If he is allowed to get his hands on the Book of Life, what you experienced is just a small sampling of the ways that he can alter the fabric of time. I suspect his endgame would be to go back to the very Beginning, and change things to the way that he would have liked them to be. To elevate his own status. Maybe even usurp God, himself. Which does not bode well for any of you, of course. Since you were unwilling to be his blunt instrument when you reneged on the Holy War, Raguel will double his efforts now. I suggest you make finding him a priority, Castiel, or you will surely regret it. You've seen what he can do, with just a flyleaf of that Book."

"Could you please tell me where I went?" Gail blurted out. "Was I in the Void?"

Death turned his head slowly to look at her, and for a moment, she thought he was going to strike her down, right then and there. But then he said, "Yes, you were. In that particular reality, you were never born."

"But why?" Cas pressed him, agitated. "Does that mean that Vincent did not exist?"

"No. Not at all," Death replied, dabbing his mouth with his napkin again. "He does not factor into this particular equasion. It was Gail's mother that wished her not to be."

"Abigail?" Gail asked, puzzled.

Death gave her a baleful look. "As pleasant as the meal has been, I did not come here to be interrogated. Let us get to the business at hand. As I believe I was saying, I don't hold with sentiment, but I do understand the concept of fairness, and rewarding certain individuals for their sacrifice, if the sacrifice was warranted. Therefore, I will grant your request, if Felicia is amenable." He laid his napkin down on the table again, looking at Gail once more. "You will both be facing many challenges in the coming years," Death told her. "It is not my place to discuss your lineage, Gail. Any more than it is your place to question my decisions. Make sure you remember that, when the time comes. Having said that, I may just be looking for a favour from you, in the future." He rose from his chair. "Let us go, Castiel."

Cas got up from his chair, and he looked down at Gail uncertainly. "Go ahead, my Lord," she said, her lips twitching. "I'll clean up here, and then I'll wait for you in Heaven." She glanced at Death. "I don't suppose you'd like some leftovers, if I find any Tupperware in the kitchen?"

This time his mouth did twitch; she was sure of it. "Thank you for your hospitality," he said, inclining his head. Then Death and Cas disappeared from the house.

Felicia stood stock-still, contemplating the proposal that Death and Castiel had just made to her.

She'd been overjoyed when the two of them had shown up. Finally, deliverance from this grey place of nothingness. But then, when they explained to her why they were here, she was a little dismayed. That hadn't been what she was expecting at all. But Cas made his case fairly eloquently. What would Felicia do in Heaven, anyway? This way, she could still be with family, and she could help to reunite another family.

"I want to see my son," she said to Cas.

Death's lips tightened, but Cas looked at him. "I feel it is a reasonable request," Cas said in an even tone.

Death let out a short breath. "Fine. I will meet you back at the Portal in fifteen minutes. Do not be late." He disappeared without another word.

"Let's go," Cas said to Felicia. "He's not kidding." But he gave her a quick smile that he hoped was reassuring, and she smiled back. So, it was Castiel who was God now, not Bobby. He hadn't explained the circumstances to her, nor had she asked, in Death's dour presence. But Felicia noticed that Castiel seemed different now than when she'd seen him last. He was calm and professional, but he also seemed a lot warmer and more friendly than before. Impulsively, she took his hand, and Cas winked them to Earth.

"Are you really OK, Mom?" Rob was asking Jody. He was sitting at the kitchen table in the breakfast nook, eating a quick fruit plate before he had to dash out to work. Jody had been bemused to see her son eating fruit for breakfast. Barry must have him on a healthy diet. Secretly, she hoped Rob was sneaking a bit of junk food once he got to the newspaper, though. He was young, and life was too short.

"Yeah, I'm all right, Rob," she replied. "As you can see, I'm still bald. But at least I'm not puking all the time any more. The doctor says I should only have a couple more chemo treatments left, and then if everything looks clear, I can begin my radiation. I told him your Dad and I want to come up and see you, and he said he'll refer me to somebody at Vancouver General Hospital for the radiation treatments, if I want. We're late for your birthday this year, but after I'm done the chemo, I'm gonna feel like celebrating. So, we'll keep you posted for the all-clear, but start saving your nickels and dimes now. You can buy your Dad a beer when we get there. I'm probably going to have to stick to non-alcoholic, for a while."

"OK, Mom. Say 'bye to Dad for me. I've gotta go, or I'll be late for work," Rob said to her. They exchanged "I love yous" and Rob closed the Skype window, then shut the laptop down.

Felicia and Cas had been watching from the corner of the kitchen nearest to the refrigerator, but they were invisible to the young man. Rob took his cell phone out of his pocket, sent a quick text, and then cursed softly under his breath once he saw what time it was.

As he leapt from his chair, Carolyn came into the kitchen, carrying Peter. "Want some fruit?" Rob asked her, tickling Peter's chubby little cheek. "I've gotta get to work."

Felicia was watching her son, open-mouthed. He was a man now! He was tall and gangly, with a few whiskers on his chin. Whiskers. She couldn't believe it. She looked at Cas. "My Robbie is a man now," she said quietly. No one but Cas could hear her, of course. Then she looked at Carolyn and Peter. "Are they..."

"No," Cas replied gently. He explained the relationships between Carolyn and Tommy and Barry, and Felicia was astonished.

"He has a very loving, extended family, Felicia," Cas went on to say. "As you could tell from their conversation, his adoptive parents have faced some challenges, but everyone helps everyone out. Rob has grown up to be a fine young man."

Felicia watched as her son walked to the fridge and grabbed a zippered lunch bag from the middle shelf. "Tell the guys I'll be late, please," he said to Carolyn. She was strapping Peter into the high chair, and he was wriggling, kicking his little legs. "Yeah, sure," she said distractedly. "We'll see you later, Rob. Have a good day."

"I'm gonna have a GREAT day," he said happily. "The editor's going to have a look at a couple of my stories later, and give me his professional opinion. But don't tell Tommy about that. I want to surprise him. And then, I'm meeting Tina after work for coffee."

Carolyn turned her head to look at him. "Tina? I thought you were seeing Briana."

"I was, but she started to get really high-maintenance," Rob replied. "She wanted to know why I didn't have a car, and then she started to hint around that she wanted me to buy her stuff. So I talked to Sam and Dean about that, and they told me to cut her loose."

Carolyn grinned. "They were probably right about that. If a girl doesn't want to see you unless you can get her things, she's not a quality girl, Rob."

He smiled. "I know. I'm holding out for a relationship like my Mom and Dad have. Or Barry and Tommy."

Carolyn continued to smile. "How about Cas and Gail?"

Rob laughed. "Nobody's got a relationship like THEY have. They're too... I'm looking for rom-com, not science fiction." Then they both laughed, and Rob rushed out of the room as Carolyn looked skyward. "Sorry, Cas," she said.

Cas's lips were twitching. "I don't know whether I should tell Gail about that, or not," he said to Felicia. "Should we be flattered, or insulted?"

But Felicia was watching Rob leave the room with a sad expression on her face. Her Robbie was all grown up now. He called other people "Mom" and "Dad". He lived in a different country, had a job, dated girls, and was probably shaving. Tears formed in her eyes. He didn't need her any more.

Cas touched her arm. "Yes, he's grown now. But you raised him all of those years with good values, Felicia. Frank and Jody offered to take him in when you died, and then they took him the rest of the way. You can be very proud of the job you did with him. I can tell you from personal experience that he is extremely loved, by everyone."

Felicia cried for a minute or so, and then she said, "Thank you, Cas. Thank you for your kind words, and for letting me see him. I will agree to the exchange."

Cas winked them both back to the Portal, and a moment later, Death appeared. "I will go with you," Felicia told him.

Death nodded curtly. "I'll return in a moment," he told Cas. He went to touch Felicia's arm and she said, "Just a second, please." She hugged Cas impulsively. "Please tell him I love him," she said, sniffling back the tears.

"I will, Felicia," Cas said, nodding. "And please give your father my regards."

Then Death touched her arm, and the two of them vanished.

Cas stood by the Portal to Heaven, waiting impatiently. He couldn't even imagine how Felicia must have felt to see Rob like that, years later and all grown up. But he was very glad that she had acquiesced. Death had a very strict set of rules about these kinds of things. He couldn't be swayed by sentiment; that fact was well-established. But he was a huge proponent of order, and balance. If Death had a sign of the zodiac, it would probably be Libra. And if he'd had an Earthly profession, it would likely have been something in the field of Accounting. One in, one out. Everything in balance.

"Hi, Cas," Linda said.

They were all gathered in the library area of the bunker, Angels and humans alike. Cas had told everyone that he had something very important to talk to them all about. Gail had popped over to Frank and Jody's place to find out if Jody was up to it, and Jody was so intrigued that she'd said she wanted to come. So Gail had left Liz there to babysit, and she winked her brother and sister-in-law over to the bunker.

"How are you doing, Jodes?" Sam asked their friend.

"Good enough to kick your ass," Jody said happily.

It still freaked Bobby out to see Jody's bald head, but as he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek, he had to admit that he really admired her courage. Even without hair, she looked like a strong, confident woman. Frank had confided in the men that she still had her blue days, but she was hanging in there, a lot better than he would have been.

"Hey, I didn't appreciate that dress you drew on me in that stupid colouring book," Dean told her. Jody snickered. She'd e-mailed her masterpiece to him as soon as she'd finished it.

"Why? Did you want a different colour?" Frank wisecracked. "Maybe a green one, to bring out your eyes?"

"That would be nice. I've always thought that green was Dean's colour," Bobby said sarcastically. "But, let me tell ya something, Frank. If I'm in the next one after the new movie comes out, and if you try to put a dress on me, just remember that I can pop into your house at any time. Any time. Just so ya know."

"When IS the new movie supposed to come out?" Jody asked Chuck.

He shrugged. "I don't really know. It's amazing how much work goes into these things. They're in Romania now, filming that whole Hell Tablet thing. But, they had the makeup for the Leviathans all wrong. So they had to go back to the drawing board for the makeup and prosthetics. Which means that Nicole and her team have been working overtime, but it also means that they won't need me for a while. That's why I'm back right now. But after they finish in Romania, I think they're going back to Madagascar, and I can see some rewrites in my future."

"I wonder why Cas called us all here like this," Kevin speculated out loud.

"I believe I have someone here who can answer that question," Cas said, smiling.

Kevin bolted from his chair when he saw his mother standing beside Cas. "Mom?" he said in a hushed voice.

Linda walked over to her son and put her arms around him. "Kevin, it's so good to see you."

"What...how...?" Kevin stammered. He looked at Cas, open-mouthed. He wrapped his arms around his mother and held her tightly.

After a moment's silence, Linda pulled out of the embrace and stared adoringly up at her son's face. Then she smacked him, hard. "Why haven't I heard from you?" she berated him. "I thought you would at least have given Quinn a message to pass on to me, if you were too busy to come yourself."

Kevin rubbed the spot on his cheek where she'd hit him. "Ow! Mom! I'm sorry. I - "

But then Linda laughed. "I'm only kidding, Kevin. No more Tiger Mom, I promise. You're a man now. I'm not going to treat you like a boy any more. I thought I was never going to see you again. Any of you," she added, looking around the room at the others. Her eyes lit briefly on Jody, but she didn't react. Cas had given her a quick briefing before they'd arrived, so she would know what to expect. Jody's bald head and Frank's grey hair were about the only immediate visual surprises. Linda was dying to meet little Angela, though. Since she would never actually get to be a Grandma herself, maybe Frank and Jody would let her babysit, sometimes. Cas had also described to Linda how grown-up Rob was now, but Cas had decided to let Rob alone for the time being. After they got Linda settled back into Heaven, Cas was going to arrange to see the young man privately, giving him his mother's message and explaining the transaction that had taken place here today. Cas was confident that the young man that Rob had grown up to be would understand why things had to be this way.

"How in the hell did you manage to pull this off, Cas?" Bobby said in amazement, as Linda began to move around the room, hugging all her friends.

"Have a seat, and we'll tell you," Cas said with a smile. He walked around the table and put his arm around Gail, giving her a squeeze. She looked up at him admiringly. This was arguably the best thing he had ever pulled off as God, to date. Just look at Kevin's face. His eyes followed his mother around the table as she greeted everyone, as if he was afraid she would disappear if he looked away. Then when Linda got to Dean and Dean teased her about being a "helicopter mom", Linda punched the elder Winchester on the arm, making Kevin laugh out loud. When was the last time Gail had seen him laugh like that? It had been years, she was sure.

When Linda got to Gail, she gave Cas's wife a big hug, and a kiss on the cheek. "Cas tells me you had to have Death over to your house for dinner in order to get this done," she said to Gail.

Gail shrugged. "Apparently, in our world, you can't just e-mail the guy."

Linda grinned. "Well, I hope you made him do the dishes, at least."

Gail laughed. "I'd forgotten why I like you so much. Welcome back, Linda."

They all sat down and looked at Cas expectantly. He gave them all a brief description of his and Gail's dinner with Death, and the proposition that he had made. "Death was amenable to the idea, but I wanted to make sure that Felicia was all right with it, as well," Cas said. "As you are all aware, I'm a big believer in Free Will. So, Death took me to Limbo, and I made my proposal. But first, Felicia wanted to see Rob, so I took her to Vancouver - "

"What?" Frank interrupted sharply.

"He couldn't see her, Frank," Cas said patiently. "She just wanted to see him, and I thought that she should be given that chance. She saw what a fine young man he has become, and she also saw that he was well taken care of. She needed to have that peace of mind, in order to feel free to move on without him, and to let him move on without her. Then, when I told Felicia about my desire to reunite Linda with her son, Felicia agreed. There was an upside for her, too. Because Death required one soul to enter the Netherworld in exchange for one coming out, Felicia was taken there to live with her father, Ignatius. Then Death brought Linda to me, so I could return her to Heaven. Even he was able to recognize that Linda had received a raw deal, as the expression goes. He claims he is devoid of sentiment, and I believe that is largely true. But when I appealed to him on the basis that she had provided a tremendous service to our team, leading to the eradication of Lucifer, he agreed to the transaction."

"You know, it's funny," Linda said, taking Kevin's hand and giving it a squeeze. "He came to my cottage door and just stood there, staring at me. Then he told me that he was there to take me to God, if I wanted to go. If I wanted to go? Was he nuts? But I didn't say that to him, of course. I just followed him up the path. But then, a strange thing happened. Suddenly, we were in the suburbs, and I saw Felicia walking up the path to a house. The front door opened, and - "

Ignatius could sense his daughter approaching the house, and he rushed to the front door, opening it wide.

"Felicia, my dear," he said softly, and she launched herself into his open arms, laying her head on his shoulder like the little girl she'd once been, centuries ago. They both had a bit of a cry, and then Felicia said, "I made a huge mistake, Father. I'm so very sorry."

Ignatius pulled out of the embrace, looking at his daughter with compassion. "None of that matters now," he told her. "You're here with me. That's all that matters. But, please: call me 'Dad'. I'm not an old fuddy-duddy any more, Felicia, and I promise that I do not judge you. Tell me, do you have any news of my grandson? How is little Robbie?"

Felicia smiled sadly. "Not so little any more, Dad. But he's grown up to be a wonderful young man. He was adopted by loving, human parents. Actually, the husband is Gail's brother, and he and his wife have raised Rob to young adulthood. But you don't need to worry that he's being raised solely human; he also has many Angels in his extended family. Castiel and Gail are his Godparents. Which is funny, because Castiel is God, now."

"Is he?" Ignatius said mildly. "That's good. I'm happy for him."

"He's the one who arranged to have me brought here," Felicia continued. "And he took me to Canada to see Rob for myself before I came here, to give me the peace of mind to see that he was happy and healthy."

"Canada?" Ignatius echoed, curious. "Gail's brother lives in Canada?"

"No, Dad. Apparently, Rob went there to get a job for the summer. He's staying with another couple, good friends of their family."

"Oh," Ignatius remarked. "Do you know anything about the man and woman? Are you sure they're respectable?"

"The couple he's staying with are very nice people, Dad," Felicia said evasively. "Castiel assured me of that." She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell her father about the actual nature of Barry and Tommy's relationship. He may have come a ways, but Ignatius was still an old-school Angel, who had served Heaven under the ancient rulebook. He might not be able to handle it.

Ignatius eyed his daughter. He could usually tell when she was trying to hide something from him. Then, he sighed. This could only mean one thing. "I think I know why you're being so evasive, my dear," he told her.

Felicia's eyes widened. "You do?"

"Yes," he said, nodding. "I suppose you are going to call me an old fuddy-duddy now, but I still think a man and a woman should be married, before they can live together. That's how things were, back in my day. I feel that they set a better example for the younger generation if they are joined in holy matrimony. But I can see from your expression that this man and woman must not be married, but you are not telling me that, because you feel it will upset me."

Felicia pursed her lips, bemused. "Well, Dad, as the saying goes...I have some good news and some bad news for you. Rob is staying with two men, by the names of Barry and Tommy."

"Two men?" Ignatius repeated, puzzled. "I thought you said that he was living with a couple." There was silence for a moment as Felicia continued to look at him. Then she could see the look of comprehension come across his face.

"But on the bright side, they ARE married," Felicia joked weakly.

Ignatius was astonished. "Two men? Married to each other?"

"I know, Dad," Felicia said, putting her hand gently on his arm. "It'll take a bit of getting used to. But I can tell you that our boy is happy, and he is loved. It's a brand new day now, Dad, in Heaven as well as on Earth. Castiel told me that he and his wife have worked very hard to make Heaven a more inclusive place. This Barry and Tommy couple of theirs are good men, and they helped take good care of Rob when his adoptive parents were helping Castiel to rid the Earth of Lucifer. I hope you're OK with it, Dad, but even if you're not, the world has moved on. Rob is a young man, but he is a man. He doesn't need us anymore. We've done our job, Dad. Maybe one day we'll be lucky enough to see him again, but in the meantime, at least we have each other."

Ignatius thought about it for a minute. He supposed she was right about that, anyway. He had been here in this house, all by himself, for so long. When he had first arrived, he had wondered why he'd been given a larger house, when there was only him. Now, he wondered if Felicia's arrival had been preordained. The circumstances of her death had been truly horrifying, but ultimately, the Father had been merciful, because He had brought them back together in the end.

"I think God the Father would approve of the changes in Heaven, though, don't you, Dad?" Felicia said tentatively. "You always taught me that He loved us all very much, and I don't doubt for a minute that is true. And if that is the case, doesn't it stand to reason that He would love all of the people He created equally? Black, white, straight, gay...it wouldn't matter to Him, as long as they practice kindness, and love for each other."

"That is true," Ignatius mused. "Father always said that He wanted to see more love, and less hate. He used to tell us that of all the things He ever created, love was far and away the best."

"Well then, I guess that's my point," Felicia said softly. "Even if the couple Rob is staying with are two men. Apparently, they're very much in love with each other, Dad, and they love our Rob to pieces, just as Frank and Jody and all the Angels do. Castiel said so. He also said that the Angels in Heaven are very happy now, because they can feel free to love whoever they love, no matter what race they are, or what gender they are."

Ignatius thought about what his daughter was saying now. It was a lot to take in, especially for a long-serving Angel such as himself. But, a part of him was glad. Ignatius knew that he had been guilty of prejudice way back when, as a member of the Upper Echelon. But clearly, he and Xavier and the whole lot of them had been small-minded, and they had been wrong.

"I'm very proud of you, Felicia," he said warmly, touching her cheek.

She was surprised. "Really, Dad? Why? I messed up. I did everything wrong. I rebelled against you, left Heaven, took up with a lieutenant of Lucifer's - "

He interrupted her. "But you did stand up to him when it counted, my dear. You didn't desert your principles. And that's what matters, in the end. Mark will get what is coming to him, Felicia. If our Father will not mete out justice, I am sure that Castiel will. We had our differences of opinion over the centuries, Castiel and I, but I have every confidence that he will do what needs to be done."

Felicia was eyeing her father. "How do you know what happened with Mark and me, Dad? Who told you?"

"No one," he replied calmly. "I saw it, on the television set here in the house. Every once in a while, it will switch on of its own accord, and show me an event. Luke told me that his does that, too. He was also able to witness Lucifer's demise. He and I discussed it, when we happened upon each other in the street one day. I believe the Father allows us to see certain things that are of particular interest to us. As painful as it was for me to watch, the Father showed me Mark's true nature, and betrayal of our family. But He also showed me how strong you were in your rejection of Mark, and in that moment, I was confident that you would ascend. But, at the risk of sounding selfish, this is even better. Now we can be together for eternity, my darling daughter. So, it would seem that both Gods are merciful; the original one, and the current one. Castiel has helped me to connect with you a couple of times, now. He's been far kinder to me than I deserve, considering our history."

"Where is Mark now? Do you know?" Felicia said fearfully.

"Do not worry, my daughter," Ignatius said serenely. "He is not here. He is being held prisoner by the Demon Goddess Ammit, at the Lake of Fire. He'll never bother you again, Felicia, nor harm anyone we care about."

Felicia was puzzled. Ammit? The Lake of Fire? She had no idea what her father was talking about. But, quite frankly, she didn't care. She had washed her hands of her husband. Hopefully, that Lake of Fire place was a place of torture and misery.

"Am I being presumptuous, or can I assume that you will move in here with me?" Ignatius asked her, his tone tentative. "There's lots of room, and I've been so lonely. But, I'll understand if you don't want to live with an old curmudgeon such as myself."

"Don't you mean an old fuddy-duddy?" Felicia said, but Ignatius saw that she was smiling. Then, her expression turned serious. "I'd love to live here with you, Dad. We have a lot of lost time to make up for."

She linked her arm with his, and they entered the house together.

Everyone in the bunker was silent as Linda finished her story. Then Bobby said, "Ya know, when I was God before, I got a look at the list of people who were slated to go to the Netherworld. But, I can't remember a damn thing about it, any more."

Cas was frowning. That was right; he'd forgotten about that. When he and Gail had been separated and she and Sam had been involved in that automobile accident, Bobby had told them that Sam was on that list. Bobby had received a severe reprimand from God the Father for telling Dean about that, and subsequent to that incident, the list had vanished. Cas supposed that none of them would ever be able to look at it again. And maybe, in a strange way, that was for the best. You couldn't live your life worrying about an invisible Sword of Damocles hanging over your head, or you would never be able to enjoy your life. They would just have to deal with that issue when the time came.

"Wait a minute, though," Frank said suddenly. "Cas, you said that Death agreed to swap Linda out for Felicia because of all the contributions Linda made behind the scenes helping us get the Tablets, right?"

Cas nodded. "That's right, Frank."

"That must have been one hell of a dinner you made him," Frank said to his sister. "Guy's not exactly the kindest, gentlest - "

"Why does everybody keep assuming I made it?" Gail interrupted in a slightly annoyed voice. "Actually, Cas rolled up his sleeves, and he made it himself. I didn't lift a finger; I just watched him, in the kitchen."

And it was true, too. Once Cas had assembled all the ingredients, he'd told her to sit down and relax. He'd seemed excited at the prospect of cooking from a recipe, confessing that he'd never done it before. Gail understood; there hadn't been too many kitchens in those cheap motels she and Frank had had to stay in, either. Before they'd had to leave their home, Gail had been a little bit too young to learn how to cook, and besides, she and Christina hadn't exactly bonded the way that Christina had hoped they would, back when she'd adopted Gail. When Frank's sister had been watching Cas cook, these thoughts had occurred to her, and she had felt sad. What would her real mother have been like? Now that Gail knew that Abigail was still alive, she was becoming more and more curious about the woman. What was she like? Would they get along? Would it be possible, after all these years, for them to bind? Her mother would be an older woman by now, but maybe there was still time.

Cas had been bustling around the kitchen getting everything together, but after a few minutes, he had stopped and looked at Gail. "What's the matter?" he'd asked her.

Gail was brought out of her reverie. He looked concerned. She told him what she had been thinking, and he had rushed over to her, wiping his hands on the apron he was wearing. He was wearing an apron, she thought with amusement. And, Lord help her, he had his sleeves rolled up to the elbow. There was just something about Cas with rolled-up sleeves. Gail had seen him in every state of dress and undress there was, but the rolled-up sleeves and the apron might just be the best combination of cute and sexy yet.

He sat down at the table and pulled her onto his lap. "I'm very sorry that you never had the experience of being loved and nurtured by your parents," he told her softly. "You should have. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't love you with all of their heart, as I do."

Gail kissed him on the forehead. "That's because you're the sweetest person in the known universe," she said, smiling. "But you'd better let me up and get cooking now, or that dish is never going to get made."

Cas had wrapped his arms around her waist now, and he was nuzzling her neck. "I'm God; I'm sure I can employ a few shortcuts, if I have to," he murmured. Then he started to kiss her neck, and she happily gave up. She ran her hands through his hair, and he lifted his face to hers. She kissed him deeply, and his arms tightened around her as he returned her kiss.

Gail was sitting at the bunker table now, smiling as she thought about that occasion. She looked at Cas, and he was smiling at her. He took her hand, giving it a squeeze. Of course he knew what she was thinking. God could read really strong thoughts. Or maybe it wasn't even a God thing. She and Cas had almost always been able to communicate with each other on a non-verbal level. They looked into each other's eyes, remembering a very hot encounter that had begun with Gail on Cas's lap, continued on the kitchen table, and ended up on the floor, after Cas had waved his hand and conjured up a down-filled blanket for them to lay on.

"Hey! Earth to the Angels!" Frank said, raising his voice.

"Huh? What?" Gail said.

Frank rolled his eyes. "I'm asking you a question! What'd you make?"

Cas gave Gail's hand another squeeze, and then he looked at her brother. "Drob de miel," Cas responded. "But it wasn't 'offal', Frank. It was good."

Frank looked at him blankly for a moment, and then he smiled. "Way to go, Cas. That was one of my better ones, wasn't it?"

"Anyway, he really seemed to like it," Gail chipped in. "Well, as much as he can like anything, anyway. So we made the point to him that Linda was mostly an unsung hero in that whole Tablet business. I mean, let's face it: if she hadn't gotten all that intel about the locations of the Tablets for us, who knows where we would be right now? Lucifer might even still be around."

"He seemed to respond to the logic," Cas added. "Death is a big proponent of the natural order. He always has been. It was Lucifer who upset the natural order when he came here to Earth and began to murder people at his own whim. I happen to know for a fact that Death whole-heartedly supported our efforts to eradicate Lucifer. Death even came to me personally in Egypt to pass along some information about where the Tablet in Italy was."

"I'm extremely grateful to the two of you," Linda remarked. "I'm going to be much happier in Heaven with my son and all of you than I was there, all by myself. I can help you at one of your Academies, if you want, Cas."

"I'd rather have you on my board," Gail interjected, "but if you want, maybe you could split your time. You're smart, but I remember how much you enjoy kicking ass, too."

Linda laughed. "You're right. I do. But I'd kind of like to sit on the board, as well."

"I'll tell you what, then," Cas said. "Why don't we all have a toast to our friend Linda, and perhaps one for Felicia, as well? Then we'll return to Heaven and get you set up, Linda."

"Sounds good to me," Kevin's mother said. "Pour me a drink, Dean. And while you're at it, pour one for Kevin, too. I want to drink a toast with my son."

Kevin looked at her, incredulous. Wow. She must have really meant what she'd said about treating him differently now.

Linda smiled. "I told you, Kevin. No more Tiger Mom. I'm happy to be reunited with you, but we're both adults now. We have our own interests, and our own goals. My door will always be open to you, but I won't be hovering over you any more, trying to live your life for you. You've obviously been doing just fine without me. I want you to WANT to spend time with me, not because you feel an obligation to. That's something your father never really understood, and maybe I never did, either. But now, I do."

Everyone was silent, and then Dean raised his glass to Linda. "Here's to the scariest woman I ever met under five and a half feet. Well, next to Gail, that is."

Gail nodded, raising her glass to him. "And don't you forget it," she said, as everyone laughed.

A short time later, Cas and Gail accompanied Linda to the boardroom and introduced her around to the sitting members who weren't acquainted with her. Kevin's mother looked around, smiling with approval. It appeared that things had gotten a lot more diverse than when she'd been here last.

Gail was smiling. "Now, THIS was what I always envisioned the board to look like when I ran on an inclusivity program," she said.

Cas was pleased, too. He didn't really need to be here, because Gail was in charge of the board, and he didn't want her to think he was encroaching. But now, he was glad that he had come, so he could see for himself. How far they had progressed since he had been sitting in this room with the old guard Upper Echelon.

"I'm so happy to see all of you here together," Cas blurted out. "Back in the days when this board was called the Upper Echelon, it was an elitist clique made up of older, male, Caucasian Angels. I was the one who was considered different. I was ostracized because I believed in freedom of choice, and that a lot of the ancient laws were narrow, even Draconian, in their applications. But now, as I look around this table and see women, and people of colour, I think it's wonderful. And Father would too, I'm sure. He never meant for Angels to become what the Upper Echelon became. Welcome to the board, Linda."

"Yes, and it's about time we had a woman who's also a woman of colour," Gail added. "It used to be Hashtag #HeavenSoWhite here, in more ways than one. But that's sure not the case anymore."

Everyone around the table laughed, and Linda smiled. She had been discreetly briefed by Chuck back at the bunker not to expect Heaven's rooms and hallways to be pristine white any more. Linda had been in the Netherworld on Cas and Gail's wedding night. She had looked at Chuck sharply when he'd pointed that out. What the hell did that have to do with anything? Chuck had raised an eyebrow to her, and she had nearly spit out her mouthful of wine. He had to be pulling her leg with that. But sure enough, they were back in Heaven now, and everything was in vibrant colour. Huh.

"Well, I'll leave you to your work," Cas said to everyone. "I have more souls to ascend."

"I'll walk you out," Gail said quickly. The two of them walked out the door and into the hallway.

Cas took her hands in his. "I'm so proud of you, my darling," he told her. "You're setting a shining example for all of the Angels."

"Well, except for that whole 'living in sin' thing, maybe," she quipped.

Cas put his arms around her. "Don't you worry. We're going to address that, very soon."

"Hey, if you don't mind, I don't mind," she said lightly. "As far as I'm concerned, nothing's different, really."

"Nevertheless, I want us to have another wedding," Cas said, pulling her closer. "It'll be romantic."

Gail smiled. "I agree, but it might be a hard sell to our friends and family. We'd better tell them 'no gifts'."

Cas smiled. "I'll gladly tell them that. If you'll agree to remarry me, that's the only gift I'll ever need."

Gail shook her head slowly. Cas always said things like that, and he always meant them. "I must be the luckiest person ever," she said to him. Cas shook his head, too. "No, I am," he said softly. He leaned down to kiss her, and the kiss lasted for a minute or two.

"I love you, sweetie," Gail said breathlessly. "Let's get back to work. The sooner we do, the sooner we can finish."

Cas laughed. "I may have to issue a law that shortens the work day," he joked. Then he gave her another squeeze and a look that made her knees go weak, and then he was gone.

Gail walked back into the boardroom on a cloud of air, and all the board members started to applaud and whistle. She stopped and looked at them all, a puzzled expression on her face. "What?" she said.

"Why'd you leave the room?" Linda asked her, grinning.

"I just wanted to talk to Cas for a minute," Gail said evasively.

"What about?" Paul piped up. He was grinning, too.

"Ummm...God stuff," Gail said vaguely.

"Well, the next time you want to talk to him about 'God stuff', maybe you should close the blinds, first," Linda teased, pointing to the big picture window that overlooked the hallway. All the Angels laughed.

"Oh," Gail said, but she couldn't help but laugh, too.

"It's good to see that, even though some things have changed, others haven't," Linda said softly, giving Gail a warm smile. "Yours and Cas's relationship is the kind of relationship we'd all like to have."

Kevin looked at his mom again. She had really changed since she'd been away. It was kind of weird, but he was glad, too. She seemed happier, somehow. More at peace with herself. Kevin would have been happy to have her back under any circumstances, but this Linda was a Linda he felt like he could be friends with, and Kevin was glad about that. He'd been fairly lonely here since Chuck and Laurel had gotten together, and Chuck had started to work on the movie script. And now, Ethan had his wife and son here, and his Academy duties. The three of them would always be friends who were perhaps closer than others, but they would never be the Musketeers again. Change was a necessary part of life, Kevin knew, even for otherworldly beings. But recent events had led him to ponder exactly where he fit in the scheme of things. He guessed it was quite an honour having been selected to serve on the Suicide Board, and he knew that it was important work that they did there. He'd also been studying the ancient language in his spare time, wanting to stay sharp in case his services were needed in that area, as well. But, aside from work, Kevin's life had felt empty; devoid of meaning. Maybe he needed a girlfriend. Maybe he could even talk to his Mom about that. She seemed to be the type of person he could talk to about those kinds of things, now.

"Let's go, Kevin," Bobby said, giving the young Angel a nudge. "We've got a few cases to deal with before the end of the day. We'll see ya later, Linda," he called out to Kevin's mother.

"Yeah. Later," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Linda had taken a seat between Henri and Paul, and both men were showing her the documents the board had been working on. She was interested to see that they had been working on a proposal to send groups of Angels to Earth to live alongside humans, as a sort of pilot project. Gail had long since held the belief that there were a lot of things that they could, and should, be doing for their fellow men and women. Even though they would be unable to stop things like disease and natural disasters, in her opinion, there was far too much misery on Earth in the form of things like extreme poverty, and hunger. Couldn't they do something about things like that? And, more importantly, SHOULDN'T they? So, with the help of her fellow board members, she had been working on putting together what she hoped would be a persuasive presentation to Cas on the subject. And she felt that, with just a little tweaking, they were very close to the final draft.

Gail took her seat at the head of the table. "If everybody's ready, we'll begin," she said.


	4. Mad (About You)

Chapter 4 - Mad (About You)

Summer was winding down now, and as Rob stood on the back deck of Barry and Tommy's new home, he could almost smell the crisp fall air that was due to come in at the end of the week. It was hot today, though. It was as if the season didn't quite want to let go of its hold on the area just yet. But the end of the summer was indeed coming, and with it would come a lot of changes to the status quo.

Some of those changes had already begun. Barry, Tommy and Carolyn had decided a while back that they didn't want to continue living in a highrise condo near downtown Vancouver with a small baby in the house. Peter had already shown signs of wanting to be on the move, and there was no way Carolyn wanted to have to worry about her son walking, and the fact that they lived on the 20th Floor. So they'd sold the apartment and gotten this house in the 'burbs. There were extra bedrooms for visitors, and there was both a front and a back yard for Peter to do his exploring. There were also quite a few young families in the neighbourhood, which meant potential playmates for Peter, and whoever else might come along.

Rob took a sip of his coffee and smiled. Tommy and Barry hadn't said anything publicly yet, but he knew that they had been talking privately about adopting a child of their own. Maybe even going overseas to do it, like Brad and Angelina. The men had been enjoying their domestic bliss and their love so much that they wanted to share it with others. Barry had been thrilled with their new house. He'd always had a love of cooking and baking and home decor, and now he was in his element. And Tommy had set up an office for himself in the basement, where he was going to attempt to write the next great Canadian novel.

There was lots of room for Carolyn and Baby Peter in their house, and in their hearts. Carolyn had been talking about getting a job, and Barry had told her he would gladly stay at home with Peter. She should also get out every once in a while, he'd told her. Make some friends. Maybe even meet a guy. When was the last time she'd gotten herself laid? Barry had asked her one night over a couple too many glasses of wine, and the two of them had looked over at Peter's playpen and burst out laughing.

Rob had had a terrific summer. He'd done everything Jody had wanted him to do, and more. His latest birthday had come and gone, and he'd woken up to a very pleasant surprise in the form of a birthday card with the number of a bank account in it. When he'd gone online to check it out, Rob had been amazed to discover that Uncle Cas had set him up with a trust fund when he'd been younger, and his other Uncles had been kicking in a few bucks here and there, according to the note in the card, whenever they could. The bottom line was that, now that Rob was statistically considered a man, he now discovered that he was a fairly well-to-do one, also.

His parents hadn't made it here for his actual birthday. His Mom had been too sick to travel, then. But they were here now, and Rob's blended, extended family had been having a fantastic time. Barry loved having two babies in the house, and he had been driving all their other friends crazy by taking way too many pictures of little Angela and Peter in adorable poses, doing adorable things, and posting them online. One day, Sam had come back to his and Dean's motel room to find his brother swearing, saying if he got one more alert from Barry with an attachment, he was gonna drive up to Vancouver and see exactly where on Barry's body he could cram a computer. But that didn't stop Dean from forwarding each and every picture they received to Nicole, and every once in a while, Sam caught a glimpse of Dean looking surreptitiously at some of those photos and smiling.

Rob put his coffee cup down on the railing of the deck and stretched to his full height. He felt a little sore and achy this morning. This must be what his Dad felt like all the time. Rob smiled. His parents were unbelievable. They had announced that they were coming up here for a vacation, but that he should keep working, and carry on with his life. OK, fine. They'd done some sightseeing with Barry and Tommy and Carolyn, and life had gone on pretty much as usual. But then, on one of Rob's days off, he had answered the front door to find a brand new car being delivered, and that car was for him. And in the trunk was a brand new laptop. His Mom had said it was to make up for not having been able to be with him on his actual birthday. Rob had been astonished. It wasn't like Jody had been on tour with a rock group, or something. She'd been battling cancer, undergoing chemo treatments that had made her bald, and sick as a dog. Then hugs were exchanged and tears were shed, and then Rob had taken his Mom out for a drive in his new car, just the two of them. They'd parked somewhere and gotten milkshakes, and Rob had asked her how she was really doing. Surprisingly well, Jody had told her son. She was sporting a close-cropped, almost military-style hairstyle, but she proudly announced that each and every bristly follicle was her own. Although it was coming in with a really weird mixture of both brown and grey. Frank had joked that the colour looked like a squirrel that was trying to make up its mind, and Jody had told him that wasn't the least bit funny. But when she'd told Rob about that line on their drive, mother and son had looked at each other and nearly blew their milkshakes out of their noses laughing.

Last night, after everyone else had gone to bed, Rob and his Dad had sat out here on the deck and had a few beers together. A rite of passage, Frank had called it. One he'd never gotten the chance to share with his own father, because apparently, Gail's father had decided that Frank's parents no longer wanted to go on living. They had never really received factual confirmation about what had happened that day, although they all knew now that it was the truth, anyway.

"He's going to be a big problem," Rob had told Frank, taking a sip of his beer.

Frank had sighed. "An evil-ass, baby-bleeding, voodoo Priest who's looking for the Book of the Dead? Nawwww, that can only be good for us. I figured we'd have him over for Christmas. He and Cas will be best buddies, I'm sure." Then he had looked at Rob pointedly. "Any eyes and ears on this guy? Anything at all?"

Rob had shaken his head. "Nope. Not on Abigail, either. Aunt Gail said her mother has Cathy's files. If we could find her and get a look at those, it'd be a place to start. Or maybe Abigail knows where he is. That guy's gonna be a big problem, Dad," he repeated earnestly. "He's planning something. I don't know what, but we've all got to be on our guard. Tell Aunt Gail."

Frank took a pull on his beer, looking thoughtful. "I haven't seen that much of her recently. She and Cas have been up in Heaven, doing Angel stuff. I miss her like crazy, but maybe it's just as well. You're kind of freaking me out, Rob."

"Sorry, Dad. Let's talk about something else, then," Rob had said, and they'd gone on to other subjects.

But this morning, Rob realized he couldn't hide away here in Canada any more pretending like everything was OK, because very soon, things were going to be far from OK. He couldn't pretend that he wasn't a part of all the madness that was going to come, because he was very much a part of it. He and Gail were Vincent's children, and soon, they were going to have to make a stand.

Rob finished his coffee. As soon as everybody got up, he was going to have breakfast with them and then head over to the newspaper office. There, he was going to shake the Chief Editor's hand and thank him for the summer internship, and the advice. Please don't hold it against Tommy, but Rob had to go back to the States with his family. His Mom was recovering from cancer surgery, he had a baby sister who was going to be a year old soon, and the bottom line was that Rob missed his family. He was sorry, but when they left for the States, Rob planned to go with them.

Then, Rob was going to meet Alexis and break up with her. He'd told a few girls over the summer that he didn't want to see them anymore, but this particular split was going to be hard on the both of them. But probably it would be harder on Rob, because Rob had lost his virginity to Alexis, just a few short weeks ago. He'd had a few chances to hook up over the summer, but Rob had held out for as long as he could. Not because he thought it would be any kind of a sin, or anything. How could he? Even God was living out of wedlock these days. Rob had been amazed when his Dad had told him over their beers that technically, Uncle Cas and Aunt Gail weren't married any more. But they were still living together, even though Gail made a big show of going to their house on Earth every once in a while to create the impression that they weren't. No, it wasn't sex that bothered Rob. That part had been terrific, and it had helped that Alexis was older and more experienced. She had been able to give Rob a few instructions here and there, and even though he'd been awkward and overeager at first, Rob thought he'd done all right. He must have, because Alexis had continued to date him. But, Rob had to be honest: he didn't love Alexis, and he knew she didn't love him. He was sure that she would be just fine with his leaving.

And then, he was going to have dinner with his family tonight and tell them he was coming home. He wasn't going to ask his parents, he was going to tell them. Rob had the feeling that they wouldn't raise too much of an objection about it. When they demonstrated physical affection towards him, Rob could feel how much they missed him. But they didn't want to say anything, because they didn't want to disrupt his life here.

His life? No. Rob didn't have a life here, not without his family. He'd been having a summer fling here, that was all. He smiled. He would have to write that one down. He loved Barry and Tommy and Carolyn and Baby Peter, but Rob's heart was in Kansas.

He brought his empty coffee cup inside the house and closed the sliding patio door.

Vincent was smiling. He stood on the front lawn of the grounds, looking at the structures. The buildings were already pretty much adequate for his purposes. It was amazing what a little voodoo magic, a bit of charm and intimidation, and a buttload of money could do.

He'd been ground to a halt, as far as the Book went. Vincent had greased a lot of palms in a lot of corners of the globe, and if something didn't shake loose soon, he was going to have to start slicing and dicing.

He may not be reduced to such crudeness when his children arrived, though. Once the amenities were installed here and Vincent called his best and brightest to him, one of them might well have some information for him. There were quite a few psychics coming, as well as a plethora of other potential talents. Surely, one of them would be able to give him some intel on the stupid Book, given the right motivation. Some needed the carrot, and others, the stick. There were some very interesting prospects among the ones that he would call here. Vincent had felt his son Rob trying to probe and feel around for his whereabouts, and that pleased him. That was some serious juice that Rob was exhibiting, there. And Rob's twin brother was very talented at teleporting himself, although he sometimes had trouble controlling it. Neither Rob nor Eric knew of each other's existence, but if it suited Vincent, he might bring the two young men together, at some point.

The one he was the most excited about receiving was his daughter, Gail. There was just so much upside there. When he'd first found out that she had become an Angel, Vincent had been pissed off, thinking that she was lost to him. But now, he realized that she was the greatest asset he could have. She had otherworldly powers, she was an excellent fighter, and she was God's wife. When Vincent had dropped in on their little confab with Oliver, he had been impressed by Gail's spirit, her aggression towards him, and her vulnerability when it came to her friends. And the way that Castiel had come roaring in there, using his Godly powers to defend her? If Vincent were to ever consider swinging that way, Gail's husband would probably be one hell of a place to start. No wonder Gail was so into him. She was Vincent's daughter, after all.

It would be risky calling Gail here, but there was just so much potential upside that he couldn't not do it. That husband of hers was going to pose Vincent's biggest challenge yet, but he did so enjoy a challenge. There were so few of them left to him these days. Vincent had the feeling that Castiel was going to be a lot of fun. So would Gail be, if she would just control her mouth a bit. From the admittedly brief sampling he'd had, it seemed to Vincent that his daughter had an extra helping of sass. She must have gotten that from her mothers. Both of them.

But Vincent had a couple of things up his sleeve for Mr. and Mrs. God, things that they might not be expecting. He had a couple of individuals in his employ who were familiar with the two of them, one in particular who had advised that he was very well acquainted with the Lord God Castiel. Vincent couldn't wait.

He walked into the main quarters to check on the testing facilities.

Gail was angry now. She and Cas had come down to the bunker to greet everyone when they got back, and they'd been having a nice visit, up until she'd made the mistake of talking about her pilot project.

She blamed Sam. When he and Dean had been on the road, Gail had sent the younger Winchester an e-mail, asking for his advice on how to word a couple of paragraphs on the cover letter of her presentation. The fact that God was her husband notwithstanding, she was going to be professional about this.

"So, when can we expect a bunch of Angels to show up here on Earth?" Sam asked Gail, grinning.

"Yeah, give us some kind of warning, at least," Dean said, nudging Cas. He looked at Gail. "Did you put that 'no dicks' clause in there, like I told you?"

"Well then, by your definition, there wouldn't be that many coming, would there?" Frank said dryly. He yoinked the beer out of Dean's hand, smirking, and gave it to Jody. She grinned up at her husband. Jody was healthy enough to have the occasional beer now, and she had slowly started to work out again, in their basement gym. She still had her off days, but she felt like she was on the right side of things now. She had just a few radiation treatments left, and then she and Dr. Glover were going to talk some more.

"There won't be any Angels coming," Cas said, tight-lipped. Gail was staring at him, but he was avoiding her gaze.

"Ask him why not," Gail said to their family, gesturing in frustration. "Go ahead. Ask him."

"OK, I'll take the bullet: why not?" Bobby said to Cas.

"Because HE thinks it's a bad idea!" Gail exclaimed, before Cas could speak.

"It IS a bad idea," Cas said, as patiently as he could. "We've been over this."

"It's not," she insisted. "You just have to open your mind a little. Just because something's never been done before, that doesn't make it a bad idea."

"Well, this is a bad idea, and we're not going to be doing it," he said firmly.

"You're wrong, Cas. You're not even giving it a chance," Gail persisted.

Cas let out a frustrated breath. "I wish you would stop objecting to everything I say," he said to Gail in an exasperated tone.

"Well, then, stop saying so many objectionable things!" she retorted tartly.

Cas threw his hands up in a gesture of ultimate frustration. "You're being very obstinate," he told Gail.

"No, YOU are," she shot back. "You know, just because you're God, that doesn't mean you can just say or do anything you want!"

Frank looked at the Winchesters. "You know, I kinda thought it did," he remarked to them.

Dean grinned. "Ten bucks on Gail. Pool starts now: how many minutes until the Almighty folds like a cheap suit?" Frank was holding a fresh beer he'd grabbed from the mini-fridge, and Dean grabbed it from him now, raising the bottle to Gail's brother in a mock salute.

"All I know is, if Cas raises his hands like that again, I'm ducking for cover," Sam quipped.

"I hate to tell you this, kiddo, but I've gotta go with Cas on this one," Frank said to his sister. "Sam and Dean have told me stories about Angels here on Earth that nearly made my hair go dark again."

"Oh, what do you know about it?" she asked him irritably. "You never even met an Angel before, until you met Cas."

"Dicks," Dean said, pretending to cough into his hand.

Gail glared at him. "Fine. I'll tell you what, then: why don't you all just f-"

"Hey, Cas, do you want to come with us to the bar?" Sam said quickly. "I'll buy you a drink."

Cas looked at Gail. "I don't understand why you are fighting me on this."

She looked back at him coolly. "Obviously. Never mind the hours that the board and I spent debating the pros and cons, and working up the presentation. You listened to the first sentence, and said no. But you don't understand why I'm angry," she added sarcastically.

"It's a bad idea, Gail," Cas repeated. "You don't know Angels like I do. It's a recipe for disaster. I'm God, and I say no. End of discussion."

"Don't you try that with me," she said through gritted teeth. "You're getting dangerously close to telling me to obey you. Let's see how well that works out for you."

As Cas opened up his mouth to speak again, Sam and Frank grabbed him by the arms, turned him around, and propelled him towards the corridor. "Come on, Cas," Sam said. "Just one drink." Then they were down the hallway and heading towards the garage, with whatever potentially disastrous retort Cas had been about to make remaining mercifully unsaid.

"So where does God go, when he's in the doghouse?" Dean asked Cas with a smirk.

"Nowhere," Cas said sadly, taking a small sip of his beer. "Gail's been staying in our house here on Earth, for the most part."

The men all nodded. That was an open secret in their family, one of those things that everybody knew about, but nobody ever talked about. They knew that the couple still got together at one domicile or another, but, when she thought she should, Gail went to their house here in the neighbourhood. Sometimes Cas stayed with her, and sometimes he didn't. But until they underwent the ancient ritual for annulment and remarried, this was the uneasy compromise they had arrived at.

"Well, at least you guys don't sleep, so you don't have to worry about her kicking you downstairs to sleep on the couch," Frank remarked. "I hate it when Jody does that."

"Then maybe you shouldn't be such a dick," Sam teased him. "I'm sure that whenever she does that, she has a good reason."

Frank glared at him. He opened his mouth to retort, and then he closed it again. The truth was, on the rare occasions when that had happened, Frank had totally deserved it.

Rob cleared his throat. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but I'm just trying to figure out what's going on, here," he said to the men. Secretly, Rob was thrilled. This was the first time he'd ever gone out to have a drink at the Hunter bar with his Dad and his Uncles, just the guys. It was great. He lowered his voice. "I thought that God was the ultimate boss of everything, Uncle Cas."

"Maybe I would be, if I was single," Cas lamented, and all the men laughed. Dean clapped him on the back, making Cas spill his beer. He automatically waved his hand, cleaning it up. Luckily, no one in the bar was paying any attention to them.

"That was a good one, Cas," Frank said to his brother-in-law, raising his drink in salute. "Women, eh? Can't live with 'em, can't smite 'em."

This led to another round of back-slapping, jokes, and laughter, and then another round of drinks. But Cas was looking around the bar restlessly now. He loved being here with his friends, but he missed Gail. He hated it when they fought. Usually, he just gave in, because usually, she was right. But in this case, Cas was still convinced that she was wrong. As he looked around at all the Hunters in the bar, Cas allowed himself to fantasize about throwing a bunch of Angels into the mix. Even if they were to vet the individuals very closely for the pilot project, he still thought it was a risk that they couldn't afford to take. Sending otherworldly beings unto the Earth to interact with humans was inadvisable. Angels had once been humans too, and they would bring their emotional baggage down here with them. For every selfless, benevolent Angel like Liz, there could be two like Pamela, Xavier, or even Metatron. Heaven wasn't perfect, nor were the Angels who inhabited it. Unless one of them were to commit a crime or behave very badly while they were in Heaven, though, they were entitled to stay there. But that didn't mean that Castiel believed that they were all virtuous, or altruistic. Pamela posed no threat to Cas, or Gail, or their marriage, but that didn't mean that he trusted her, either. He allowed her to remain at the Academies because she was good at her job, and because he thought it was important to have female instructors. Linda had now joined his faculty and was a part-time instructor, but there were still too few females. If Gail wasn't so busy, he would ask her to do it. She was a tacit member of the faculty, of course, just as he was a tacit board member. But she had her main board duties, she also served on the Suicide Board when needed, she volunteered at the seniors' centre and the school with Liz, and she helped Frank and Jody out on Earth. Although now that Jody's health was improving and Rob was back, the latter would probably become a moot point now.

In any event, the point that Cas was making to himself, and had been trying to make to Gail, was that Angels did not always mix well with each other, let alone with humans. There were many humans that needed help, but they did not necessarily want to acknowledge that fact. For example, Stephen, the man who was playing pinball at the machine across the room, had a drinking problem that he was in deep denial about. He had already lost his wife and children because of it. Rebecca had stuck by him all those years as he did odd jobs by day, and Hunted at night. They'd even built a bit of a normal home life together. But Stephen had become haunted by the monsters he'd Hunted, and he had started to spend more and more time here, trying to drink the images away. Rebecca had begged him to get help for his problem, and he had laughed harshly, and said he didn't have one. And, even if he did, what was he supposed to do? Go and lay on some psychiatrist's couch and talk about vampires, and Rugarus? So she had taken the kids and left, and now Stephen spent nearly all of his time here at the bar when he wasn't Hunting, because he didn't want to rattle around in a nearly empty house, wondering how his family was doing without him. Fearing that the answer to the unspoken question was: Just fine, thank you very much.

Then there was Doug. He was sitting at the bar doing shots and eating bowl after bowl of the free popcorn and peanuts that the bartender was putting out. Doug was just about broke. Soon, he would have to decide whether or not to just chuck it all and look for a regular, paying job. He darted a glance at the Winchesters' table. Maybe he should talk to Sam and Dean about it. Find out how they'd stayed afloat all these years.

"Another round, boys?" Iggy asked them. He started picking up empty beer bottles and glasses from their table.

Cas looked at him. "Your wife loves you," he told the man. "You shouldn't be cheating on her with those girls."

Iggy looked at Cas, his eyes narrowing. "Look, Buddy, I don't care if you are a friend of the Winchesters, that's none of your business." He threw Dean a glare and then stalked away from the table. It was a good thing that the Winchesters brought a lot of revenue to the bar. They had been bringing that weird guy in here with them for years now, and he always looked at Iggy like Iggy was doing something wrong. And now, the dude had obviously found out that Iggy had been screwing around with the waitress from the local diner, and her twin sister. Nobody was supposed to know about that. The guy was right, of course, and Iggy knew he really shouldn't be screwing around behind his wife's back like that. But he'd always fantasized about being with twins, and when the opportunity had come up, he hadn't been able to resist. Damn that guy. He'd better keep his big mouth shut.

Dean was smirking now. "How many girls are we talking about?" he asked Cas. "Hey, if a guy as ugly as him can get multiple women, there's hope for you yet, Sammy."

Cas's lips were pursed together. He didn't find the situation funny at all. But, he also realized he shouldn't have just blurted Iggy's secret out in front of the others, either. Even though Cas highly disapproved of what Iggy was doing, nor did he have the right to invade the man's privacy by revealing his personal life to others. Now, he shut that part of his mind down so that he wouldn't have to hear the bar patrons' thoughts any more.

Now he was missing Gail again, and feeling awful about their fight. She had worked so hard on her presentation, and she had been so excited to have him hear it. And what had he done? Shut her down, without even hearing her out. Cas still didn't think it was a good idea to send Angels to Earth as missionaries, but he could at least have given her a bit more of an audience than he had. He knew that Gail was coming from a place of love and compassion, and he thought that was wonderful. And if she was perhaps being a little bit naive about the situation, he couldn't really condemn her for that, now, could he? Look at how green Cas had been when he'd first come to Earth.

Frank noticed it first. He nudged Sam, who kicked Dean under the table. Frank gestured towards Cas, and the men looked at their friend, smiling.

"Who has eight o'clock in the pool?" Sam wisecracked.

"I do," Rob piped up, and they all laughed as Gail walked into the bar area from the ladies' washroom.

"What's so funny?" she asked the men.

"We started a pool," her brother told her. "How many minutes it would take for God to cave. Rob won. That's my boy," he said to Rob, lifting his hand to his son for a high-five. "Pony up, guys. Next round's on Rob."

Gail rolled her eyes, shaking her head slowly. Then she started to smile. She pushed Dean. "Move over. I want to sit beside my husband."

Cas looked at Dean, but the elder Winchester was already on the move. He slid over in the booth and Cas rose to his feet, allowing Gail to slide in between them. Once she was settled, she looked around the table at everyone. "Great," she said pertly. "Now, Cas and I are going to sit here and make out for about fifteen minutes. Hopefully, that won't be a problem for anyone." She looked at Rob. "And I'll take a glass of rose wine."

Cas took her hand. "I'm so sorry, my darling. Please accept my sincere apology. I should have listened to your presentation."

"Wow. Who knew God was such a wuss?" Frank wisecracked.

Gail looked at him. "Your wife took your car home." Then she looked around the table. "The rest of you are all single, am I right? So, out of all the guys at this table, or even in this whole bar, who is sitting cuddling up to a woman at the moment? Oh, yeah. My husband. So I suggest that you guys might want to take a little relationship advice from him, next time."

Then she and Cas began to kiss, as the men all groaned.

After the Angels left the bar, they went back up to Heaven. Cas had been at his most charming and ingratiating, and Gail had forgiven him. He had implored her to show him her entire presentation, and he had told her that he would listen to the entire pitch without comment.

So she had taken him by the hand and led him to the boardroom, sat him down, and given him the whole presentation. She had slides on the PowerPoint, and she even had a couple of jokes worked in.

Cas sat back, quietly listening, trying not to smile because she might misunderstand. But, she was just so cute. He knew that Gail had never had an actual career on Earth, because she and Frank had never been able to stay in one place for long enough. But he could see how excited and proud she was now. For a moment, he could picture her as the CEO of a company, in a power suit and wearing glasses. It was a shame that she never had the chance to show off her intelligence in that way.

He listened very patiently, and as Gail continued to speak, Cas realized that she was actually making a very logical, cogent case. He was impressed by the amount of thought and care that she'd obviously put into her presentation. There was only one problem: he still disagreed with her.

But at the conclusion, Cas found that he didn't have the heart to tell her so. Their argument was still so fresh, and she looked so hopeful. And Cas didn't even have an intelligent rebuttal; he just instinctively knew that, despite their best intentions, the enterprise was doomed to fail. But, contrary to what his wife might believe, and despite how long they had been together now, Cas didn't know the first thing about being in a relationship with a woman. How was he supposed to tell her that he had no choice but to turn her proposal down?

"Well? What do you think?" Gail asked him.

Cas took a deep breath. "Let me consider what you have said. Can you give me a couple of days to think about it?"

She smiled. "Sure, Cas. I'm just happy that you listened to the whole thing. Thanks for doing that." She shut down the projector, and started to log out of the computer.

Cas felt badly now. He should really just tell her his position right now, and get it over with. But then she came to him and sat in his lap, kissing his face, and the subject was set aside.

The next day, the Angels were sitting outside, in the back of their house on Earth. Cas knew that this would be the last hot and sunny day of the summer, and he had wanted to enjoy the feeling of the sun on his skin one more time.

Gail felt no such desire, of course. She couldn't wait for the autumn. It had always been her favourite season. So she was sitting on the back porch in the shade, reading a book that she would use to fan herself with every now and then.

Cas was standing out in the back yard, studying the flowerbeds at the side of the yard. "I'm thinking about planting some vegetables here in the spring," he said aloud.

Gail looked up from her book. She smiled warmly at her husband, remembering that time in Romania when he had mentioned the possibility of growing his own vegetables here. "How many sheep do you want?" she teased him.

Cas turned around to look at her, puzzled, and then he returned her smile. He remembered the conversation too, when their family and friends had joked about that. "None, I promise," he told her now. "But, I would like to try my hand at growing a few vegetables. This soil looks like it might be well suited."

Gail shrugged. "Sure, Cas. Whatever you want." Suddenly, she felt a tickle, and she looked down to see a multi-legged bug crawling on her stomach. "Ewww! Cas!"

He came up onto the porch and saw what she was reacting to. Immediately, Cas put his hand down, and the centipede crawled onto his palm. Cas lifted the hand holding the bug towards his face, telling it softly to tell all of its little bug friends that Gail's stomach was not the path for them.

"She doesn't care for that kind of behaviour," Cas told the centipede adorably, and then his eyes shifted to her. "Besides, that's my territory," he said in a low voice.

As Cas turned to go back down to the garden area to release the centipede, Gail watched him, fanning herself with her book. She just now registered that Cas's shirt sleeves were rolled up to the elbow in the way that she liked, probably because he had been poking around in the soil and he hadn't wanted to get the cuffs dirty. For a masculine guy, Cas was very fastidious about those kinds of things. She watched as he crouched down and released the centipede to go on its merry way.

Gail shook her head slowly as Cas absently waved his hands to clean himself of a couple of bits of soil he had picked up from the insect. She had seen him grip his blade and carve up Demons without a single change of expression, but now, he wore a gentle smile as he watched the centipede scuttle away.

Then he straightened up and stood to his full height, returning to the porch. "Don't be too hard on our little friend," Cas said to her. "He only wanted to take the most scenic and beautiful route to where he was going." He sat down on the side of the chaise lounge on which Gail was reclining and put his hand lightly on her stomach, caressing her bare skin. "And, this particular road would be the softest on all of his little feet."

Gail smiled at him. Wow. He was really pouring on the charm. Before she could think of what to say in return, he leaned down and started to kiss her stomach, softly at first, and then with wet, open-mouthed kisses. Oh, my. Her hands went to his head as he began to lick her stomach. She had a long T-shirt on, which she had tied up and knotted just below her breasts when it had gotten too warm for her outside, and she was wearing only a pair of women's boxer underwear underneath it. When Cas startled to nuzzle her abdomen, she said, "That's it; it's getting way too hot out here." Cas smiled, and an instant later, they were in the bedroom.

Cas waved his hand, and her T-shirt disappeared. He led her to the edge of the bed and sat her down, kneeling in front of her. Another hand wave, and her underwear was gone. He raised her by her hips and buried his face aggressively between her legs, making her cry out instantly. She clutched at his head, calling out his name as he worked on her with his lips and tongue. Then he slowed down for a minute, kissing her gently, and then he sped up again. She fell back on the bed, writhing in ecstasy, giving herself over to him.

This went on for a few more minutes, and then, when she had calmed down, Gail sat up. "Now, you," she said, looking up at him. She undid his pants, eased them and his underwear down off of his hips, and started to kiss and lick him. She was delicate at first, but when she heard him begin to moan, she became more ardent. She could feel his hands on her head as she took him deeper into her mouth. He whimpered her name and pushed forward, but he was careful not to hurt her. Cas never hurt her. They had done this enough times by now for him to know how far he could go without causing her discomfort. He cried out as she moved further forward, accommodating him. Now Cas had given himself totally over to her, in return. His knees trembled, but he made himself stand firm as the hot rush came over him.

Gail was caressing him now, looking up at his face. "I suggest you turn the air conditioner on, because things are going to get even hotter in here, in a minute," she said to him, smiling. Cas waved his hand, and the window unit switched itself on. Then, another hand wave, and the bedroom door closed.

"Come and lay down with me for a minute," she said, moving up the bed to lay her head on the pillows. Cas did as she requested, taking her in his arms. They rested for a brief period of time, caressing each other lightly. Cas had waved away his own clothing at some point, and she was admiring his tanned, muscular torso. She started to kiss and lick his chest and then he pulled her head up towards his. He kissed her passionately, searching for her tongue with his own.

Then his hand wandered down her body and parted her legs. He stroked her lazily with one fingertip for a bit, and when she started to move against his hand, he smiled. Then her hand closed around him, and he started to move, as well.

When they had teased each other to the point of extreme excitement, Gail took his hand and put it on her rear end. She eased him into her. They made love that way for a few minutes, and then Gail moved her body so that she was facing away from him, and he entered her again. He pushed forward, gripping her hip gently but firmly. What a wonderful sensation this was, Cas thought. Then again, it was all wonderful. He leaned forward and flipped her hair away from her neck, kissing her there. Then he licked her earlobe and murmured words of love into her ear. She pushed her lower body against his, and Cas's head swam with the feeling of pleasure that action of hers was inducing.

Another rest, and then he was on his knees on top of her, straddling her. She had him in her mouth again and he was helpless, letting her take the lead. Then she asked him to lay on his back as they switched their positions, and she bent sweetly over him, making him shout out her name. But then, he took charge again, moving her body so that she was kneeling over his mouth. When her knees buckled, he held her firmly. And then, when she asked him to, he changed their position again so that he could enter her from behind as she gripped the headboard of the bed, telling him to go faster, please.

As they lay together afterwards, gasping for breath, Gail smiled. "What a wonderful way to end the summer," she said, kissing his face softly. "What do you say we have our showers and then pack some fresh clothes? Then we can go back up to Heaven, and you can designate a few Angels for the pilot project."

Cas looked at her, dumbfounded. He'd told her he would think about it, but she was acting as if the decision had already been made. He scooped up her hand in his and kissed every knuckle, stalling for time. But really, who was he kidding?

"All right, my darling," Cas said softly. "Go ahead and shower first, if you like. I'll start thinking about potential candidates."

She thanked him, kissing his face again and again, and then she scooted off to the shower as Cas sat up in bed, sighing. "Perhaps Dean should have set up another pool," Cas said to Ralph. But as usual, Ralph had no comment to make.

"Now that we have explained to you what we have in mind, I want to hear from each of you," Cas told the four Angels who were sitting in chairs across from his desk. "Do not let my status hinder you from speaking freely. Gail and I have agreed that this is a test case, only. We're going to send four volunteer representatives to Earth, and I have handpicked the four of you as designates. But if for any reason you do not wish to go, you need only say so. No one will be forced to go. We only want willing participants, or the enterprise is doomed to fail."

It was probably doomed to fail anyway, Cas thought, but then he checked his attitude. Gail might actually be right about this, as she had been right about so many other things. When he had been taking his own shower after their wonderful lovemaking session, Cas had tried his best to be impartial about this whole thing. Perhaps he wasn't giving in just because he loved his wife. Perhaps Gail did have a point. Maybe he was just being closed-minded, falling prey to the old ways of thinking. Heaven had changed under his regime, and thus far, every change had been an improvement. Who was to say this wouldn't be, too? Once they were dressed and had finished packing, Cas had told Gail that he wanted to start small, to dip their toes in the water, so to speak. She had been so happy that he was willing to try out her idea that she'd gladly agreed to whatever terms he had wanted to set.

Gail was sitting on a chair beside Cas now, looking at the four Angels he had chosen. She had to keep herself from rolling her eyes as she looked at Becky. Cas had broached the subject to Gail when he had been considering which Angels to pick. Becky had been restless, chomping at the bit to receive an assignment to Earth. And Cas had always had a bit of a soft spot for Becky. She had befriended Gail in Las Vegas, helped Cas with Aurielle in Florida, and supported Cas and his team in Africa during that horrible year of the death squads. Cas was aware that Becky came with some baggage, and that she was far from perfect. But she had always been there for him and Gail when it had counted, and so he had told Gail that Becky could help to spearhead the pilot project, if Gail had no objections. Gail had shrugged. Whatever Cas thought best was fine with her, she had said.

Becky was eyeing Gail surreptitiously now, but the young Angel was careful not to let her expression change. She was so close to getting what she wanted now that she didn't want to blow it. When Becky had heard through the grapevine that Gail had taken up residence at her and Cas's house on Earth, without Cas, the young Angel had freaked out. Why were the two of them separating? She'd ended up worming the information out of Chuck that Patricia had invalidated Cas and Gail's marriage when Patricia had been God, so the two of them were living apart right now, until they could make arrangements to remarry.

Becky hadn't liked that. No, she hadn't liked it one bit. It was just too convenient. Cas and Gail's house was way too close to the bunker for her liking. Forgetting the facts that Sam currently had a girlfriend, Gail would never even consider getting together with a man other than Cas, and that if Gail wanted, she had the capability of popping into Sam's bedroom every night if she so chose, Becky had been frantic to hear the news. She had to get to Earth; she just had to. So when Cas had invited Becky here to talk about her going to Earth with three other Angels, she'd been thrilled. She had originally hoped to go to Earth as a human, but for now, she would take what she could get.

Efram was excited about having been chosen for such a prestigious assignment, as was Riley. The two of them sat side by side, looking at Cas admiringly. Both young Angels had a case of hero worship for Cas that was pretty much unrivalled by any of the other Academy faculty, although Pamela's came close. She was doing her best to keep it under wraps, though. Cas had picked Riley and Efram because they were what he would have called "good soldiers", back in the old days. Because they were young, they remembered what it was like to be human, and there was the extra added benefit of Riley and Becky having served together with Cas in Africa, so they would be comfortable around one another.

The fourth designated Angel was named Martin. He sat on Riley's other side, looking at Castiel and Gail with great interest. He was a longer-serving Angel, whose outlook was a little more on the religious side of things. Cas had picked Martin because he was more mature, and because Martin had a reputation for being a no-nonsense type of individual. If Cas was going to send three young Angels to Earth to interact with the human race, he wanted an older Angel with them, one who had a moral compass, and wouldn't allow any deviations from the path.

Martin had known Castiel for some time now. Or, more accurately, he had known OF Castiel, by reputation. Martin was intrigued by the changes he saw going on in Heaven. Although he had served under the original God, for the most part, Martin approved of the changes he'd seen under Castiel's administration. He didn't even mind that Castiel acted as if his wife was an equal partner with an equal say when it came to the decisions that came out of the High Office. Some of Martin's friends and co-workers who were also long-serving Angels had commented negatively on that apparent fact, but Martin had assured them that he believed that was more a matter of appeasement than a real approach to the decision-making process.

All four Angels assured Cas that they were very happy and honoured to take the assignment. "Becky will be your coordinator," Cas told the men, prompting an eyebrow raise from Gail. Becky would not have been Gail's first choice. But Gail kept her mouth shut.

Becky was delighted. As all four of the Angels rose from their chairs, Cas informed the men that he and Becky were going to go down to Earth and rent a house that would be their base of operations. The house would be located near the bunker, and the Angels would concentrate their good works on the town of Lebanon for the time being. Then, if the pilot project was a success, he would consider expanding their area of influence. Becky would be in touch with the men, once everything was set up.

"Would you like to come with us?" Cas asked Gail, but she shook her head.

"No. I want to check in with Jody and see if she needs anything, and then I'm going to pack a few more clothes," she told him.

Becky was smiling inwardly when she heard that. If Gail was packing more clothes on Earth, that probably meant she wasn't going to be there all that much. But Becky would be, wouldn't she? Yes, she certainly would. Finally.

Gail was in the bedroom of their house on Earth, lost in thought. She had one of their suitcases on the bed and she was slowly putting some of her and Cas's clothes into it. She still intended to keep some things here for appearances' sake, but now that Rob had returned and Jody was getting healthier, Gail knew she wasn't really needed here anymore.

As she had been packing, Gail's mind free-associated, and she was now thinking about her mother, Abigail. Again. How in the hell were they supposed to find the woman? She was taking on a mythical, larger-than-life quality in Gail's mind now. There had to be a way of figuring out how to figure out where Abigail lived.

Then Gail's eyes lit on Ralph, and she smiled.

Cas and Becky were walking down the road from the house they had just rented to be a base of operations for the Angels when a car that had been driving by in the other direction slowed down, and the driver poked his head out the window.

"Excuse me," he called out. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Cas stopped walking, and then, so did Becky. "Yes?" Cas inquired. "Are you looking for directions?" he asked the man.

"Not exactly," Nate said.

"So do you think that'll work, or am I out to lunch?" Gail asked Sam and Dean. She had abandoned her packing as soon as she'd had the idea, popping over to the bunker. The brothers had just gotten home from their latest Hunting trip. It had been just a short jaunt, over to the next state. They'd more or less agreed to keep the Hunts fairly local for a time, while they might be needed here to help Jody out, or to help in the investigation to find Gail's parents.

"No, I think that's a good place to start," Sam told her now. "Actually, I'm embarrassed I didn't think of it."

"Cas want in?" Dean asked her, taking a bite of a sandwich he'd just made in the kitchen.

Gail thought about that for a moment. "I don't know. I suppose I should probably ask him," she said hesitantly.

"In on what?" Frank said, entering the library area from the hallway.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Since when did we become an open house around here?"

"Uh...I called Sam and asked him if I could borrow a few books," Frank said, frowning. "Now that Rob's back, he wants to learn more about the kind of monsters we deal with, so we're gonna do a little home schooling." He moved over to the library shelves, pausing to tousle Gail's hair on the way. As he perused the shelves, Frank said, "So, I repeat: get in on what?"

While smoothing down her hair, Gail told him about the idea she'd had, to go back to the hospital where she'd had her tonsils out as a child. "Ralph gave me the idea," she told her brother. "I told these guys about that - "

"Yeah, and I'm sorry to say this, Frank, but what your mom did really sucked," Dean said angrily.

Frank was still frowning. "Yeah, I know," he admitted. "But it was out of character for her. You guys never knew my parents, but they weren't mean people. I always thought that was really weird of her, actually."

Sam and Dean exchanged glances. She hadn't been all that nice when they'd seen her spirit at that house in Denver, either. People tended to revere their parents sometimes, overlooking their true natures, especially if the parents had died before their time. Both brothers had been guilty of that same failing, in regard to their own parents.

"Anyway, I thought that if we went back to the hospital and asked them to check their old records, they might have Abigail's name and address on file," Gail continued. "Since I was adopted, I was hoping they'd have at least one of my real parents' information on file, just in case there was a medical issue of some kind. Like if I needed a transfusion or something, like I gave to Rob, when he was shot."

"Or just generally, for your medical history," Sam chipped in. "I think it's a great idea."

"I want in," Frank stated, and all three of the others exchanged glances. "What?" he said. "I'm bored. I love my family more than life itself, but do you know how long it's been since I worked a case? At least let me tag along."

Dean shrugged. "Your call, Gail."

She smirked at her brother. "I'll tell you what. If your suit pants still fit, you can come."

"Are you calling me fat?" he said, grabbing some books off the shelves.

"No, not at all," she said innocently. "But now that you mention it, you do seem a little...jollier than you used to be."

Frank brought his books out from the shelves, and then he looked skyward. "Hey, Cas, can you look the other way for a minute while I smack my sister?"

Gail grinned. "Actually, he's here in town right now. So smack me at your own risk; that just means he'll get here faster." She told the men what Cas and Becky were doing, and Frank and Dean smiled at each other. Dammit. They should have started up another pool on how long it would take until Cas caved on Gail's idea.

But Sam was frowning now. Becky, on Earth, nearby the bunker? He wasn't sure he liked that. But he guessed it wasn't really any of his business, in a way, provided she left him alone. If she left him alone.

"I'll ask Cas if he wants to come, too," Gail told them. "We'll go tomorrow." Then she popped out as Frank looked at the brothers. "I'd better get going, too," he said to them. "I have to find out if Jody can show me how to let out my suit pants by tomorrow. Shut up, Winchester," he added, pointing at Dean.

Frank walked down the hall towards the garage to the sound of the brothers' laughter.

Nate had pulled the car over to the curb on the other side of the street and hopped out to talk to the Angels. "My name's Nathaniel Regan. I'm a talent scout, for various entertainment companies. I just wanted to tell you that you're a very stunning couple."

"We're not a couple," Cas stated very quickly, and Becky looked at him sharply. Geez, he didn't have to look THAT disgusted by the idea, did he? "We're just friends," Cas continued. "My friend just moved here, and I was helping her to find a home."

"Oh," Nate said, trying not to laugh at the look on the girl's face. "Well, anyway, how would the two of you like to make a little money in the entertainment industry?"

Cas frowned deeply. "No. Let's go, Becky." He took the young Angel by the arm, steering her away.

"Wait. Not so fast," Nate said, smiling ingratiatingly. "Your friend there is really cute, and you've got that dark, brooding quality. You'll appeal to both sexes."

Cas wheeled around and grabbed Nate by the shirt front, getting close to his face. "I've heard about men like you. We're not interested in your type of 'entertainment'," Cas growled. "Now get in your car and drive away, or you will be very sorry that you did not take my advice."

"My kind of - " Nate laughed, despite the intimidation he was feeling. "You've got me all wrong, Mister. I'm talking about modelling."

"Really?" Becky said eagerly, approaching the men.

"Stay out of this, Becky," Cas said through gritted teeth. "This man is what Dean would call a 'sleazeball'."

"I am not," Nate protested, with as much dignity as he could muster, considering that he was on the verge of pooping his pants. "I represent American Beauties, among other companies."

"That's one of the biggest modelling agencies in the world, Cas," Becky told him. "Their models are in all the best fashion magazines. Let him go, Cas. Let's talk to him. I need a job here, don't I? This would be perfect. I could work part-time, and still have time for that other stuff."

Cas reluctantly let go of Nate's shirt and stepped back, but he continued to eye the man warily. "Let me give you my card," Nate said, reaching slowly into his inside jacket pocket. He handed the business card to Cas, who looked down at it.

Nate pulled at the cuffs of his shirt, smoothing out his clothes. Just friends, his ass. This guy had a temper, and he was obviously very protective of his "friend". But Nate guessed that was understandable. She was young and pretty, and his early impression of her was that she wasn't particularly bright. She was lucky that Nate was one of the few who actually was on the level.

And as far as this man Cas went, even though he seemed to have a short fuse, Nate would like to have him as a client. The guy was tall and handsome, with ice-blue eyes and a sexy dusting of stubble on his jaw. The magazine people would love him. He had a nice physique, too, from what Nate could see.

"Would you excuse us for a second?" Becky said sweetly, and she tugged at Cas's sleeve, pulling him away from Nate. "I want to do this, Cas," she pleaded. "Please." She was beside herself now. Imagine if she became a model. Surely Sam would have to notice her if she was in all those fashion magazines.

Cas was considering. If this fellow was legitimate, Cas supposed it would be a good idea for Becky to have a job. Not only would she then appear to be human, which was the whole point, but she would also be kept busy while not out with the other Angels, doing good deeds. Contrary to what most of their friends seemed to think, Cas was not oblivious about Becky's proximity to Sam, and the bunker. But he had decided not to worry about that, unless and until there was something to worry about.

"I'll tell you what," Cas said to Nate. "We'll talk it over, and then we'll call you to let you know what we decide." He gestured with Nate's business card, then put it in his pocket.

"Fair enough," Nate said. He walked back to his car and drove off.

"You have to do it, Cas," Gail said, her lips twitching furiously. They were in his office in Heaven now, coordinating with each other after their separate errands.

"You want me to be a model?" Cas said incredulously.

"Just do one photo shoot," she persisted. "Please? For me? Maybe I can get some nice big glossy pictures and hang them in our house, and in my office." She smiled mischievously. "Maybe I can get them to take one of you with your shirt off, for my private collection."

Cas shook his head slowly. "You really think they would want to take pictures of me?"

Gail rolled her eyes. "Either you're pretending to be modest, or you've never looked in a mirror. Cas, the guy stopped his car because you caught his eye. You're so good-looking you actually stop traffic! I've got to meet this Nate guy. He might just be the smartest guy in the world."

"Well, we'll see," Cas said noncommittally. "After we go to the hospital tomorrow, depending upon what we discover, we'll accompany Becky to see Nate, and make sure that he is legitimate."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Gail said, delighted.

"Of course I do," Cas replied, smiling. "I want you with me everywhere, all the time. And if I do decide to do it, you can help advise the photographer on my wardrobe."

"Or, lack thereof," Gail said under her breath.

"I beg your pardon?" Cas asked her.

"Nothing, sweetie," she said innocently, flouncing out of his office.

The next morning, the five of them gathered at the bunker, dressed in their FBI suits.

Jody hadn't had any idea how to let pants out, so Frank and Rob had gone on Google and looked it up. Jody had watched with great amusement as the two of them had tried to figure it out. Frank had taken a Demon knife and ripped at the seams of his pants at the waistline, and Jody'd had to leave the room quickly, before she peed her pants laughing. About an hour later, Frank had ended up calling Bobby on his cell phone, asking him to zap down to their house. When Bobby got there, three generations of men stood puzzling over Frank's pants as Jody pulled up a chair with a cup of coffee in hand, watching the show.

After another half hour or so, Bobby had looked at Frank and said, "The hell with it. Bring some cash, and I'll pop you over to the mall for a bigger size. I wanna spend some time with Angela before she has to go down for the night, and then maybe Rob and I can get in a game of chess."

So Frank had sworn Bobby to secrecy, and the men had bought Gail's brother suit pants that were two sizes bigger than his old pants. Those were actually a little bit bigger than Frank had needed, and he nudged Gail now.

"Look," he told her, pulling at the waistband of his pants. "I must have lost some weight."

She eyed him suspiciously, but said nothing. It was strange, really; for some reason, Gail was nervous. Were they going to find her birth mother today? What was she going to be like? What kind of a woman would have slept with a guy like Vincent, and allowed herself to get pregnant by him? Surely, if Abigail knew Vincent well enough to have sex with him, she knew what kind of a man he was. Then, what kind of a woman did that make HER? Suddenly, Gail wasn't sure if she wanted to find Abigail at all. What if she was as bad as Vincent was?

Cas could see the fear and trepidation in Gail's eyes, and he took her hand for reassurance. This was one of the reasons he'd wanted to come along. If they did find her mother, Gail would need all the support she could get. Also, the closer they got to finding Vincent, the closer Cas wanted to stick to Gail.

The Angels popped everyone over to the hospital, and they all went to the administration office, flashing their fake badges to the receptionist there.

Molly was surprised to see five FBI Agents, inquiring about records that dated back that far. "It's a cold case," Sam told her. "You know, like that show on TV?" He gestured to Dean. "This is my partner, Agent West, and I'm Agent Ward. These three are trainee Agents: Agents Gorshin, Newmar, and Meredith. Would there be any nurses on staff who might have been on duty during the time period in question?"

She smiled, rising from her desk. "It's funny you should ask. It just so happens that Wendy is retiring today. She's the last one left from back then. They're having a party for her in the cafeteria, and I was heading over there in a minute to give her my best wishes. If you'll give me a moment, I'll take you there and introduce you."

"Thank you. That's very kind," Cas said to her.

The quintet moved out to the corridor to wait. "Gorshin, Newmar, and Meredith?" Frank said to Sam, who shrugged, grinning. "Hey, what can I say? I was going for a theme," Sam replied.

"At least I get to be Batman," Dean said. Then he looked at Gail. "How old ARE you, anyway? This woman's the only one left, and she's retiring?"

Before Gail could form a suitable retort, Molly rejoined the group. "Come with me, Agents," she said pleasantly.

"I remember that night," Wendy told the group. "A woman came in later in the evening, saying she wanted to see her daughter. She seemed really nervous. Skittish, you know? Like she wasn't supposed to be there. And actually, she wasn't. Back in those days, the hospital had a policy that prohibited parents from visiting very young children during their stay. The reasoning was that the children would be more confused and upset by their parents coming and going, and leaving them here."

"So instead, the kids would just think that their parents had abandoned them here," Gail blurted out bitterly.

Wendy looked at her sharply, and then the woman frowned. "I know, I know. For the record, I didn't agree with that philosophy then, and of course, things are quite different nowadays. But I was young, and I was just a nurse. No one cared about my opinion. Anyway, I had a sweet little girl on the ward who was waiting for a tonsillectomy, but I'd seen her mother, and this lady wasn't her. So I assumed that she was in the wrong wing. But before I could say anything else, she left."

"What did she look like?" Gail asked eagerly. "Did she say anything else? Give you her name? Anything?"

Wendy was staring at her curiously. Agents asking questions was one thing, but this woman had a tone about her, a way of asking those questions that made it seem almost like she had a personal stake in the answers.

"Agent Newmar is a rookie," Dean said to the nurse. "And because she's a woman among all us guys, she gets a little overeager, sometimes. I'm sure you understand."

Wendy's expression softened as she looked from Dean back to Gail. "I do understand what that's like," the nurse told Gail. "As I said, I had a lot of opinions about how things could be improved around here, but when I first started, doctors were gods and nurses were no better than their handmaidens, to be honest. But now that I'm an old lady, I speak my mind. I may be retiring, but I'm not too modest to tell you that me and my big mouth have brought about a lot of positive changes here over the years."

"Congratulations. That's great," Sam said to her. "So, can you tell us any more about the woman?"

Wendy described Abigail to the best of her recollection, but then she shrugged and said, "I can't remember whether she said anything else. I don't think she did. But she never told me her name."

Frank and Gail exchanged frustrated glances as Sam persisted, "Would there be anything in your patient records? Anything that might tell us who the little girl's birth parents were, or their whereabouts?"

Somewhat unexpectedly, Wendy laughed. "Oh, heavens, no. All of the records we kept back then have been deleted."

"Deleted?" Dean piped up. "Why?"

"They were all on microfiche," Wendy replied calmly. "When we got our new computer system, the Powers That Be decided that it would cost too much to transpose the files, so they had them destroyed."

Sam gaped at the nurse, and then he looked at Gail, who appeared stunned, too. This was unbelievable. Part of him felt like laughing. Microfiche? What kind of medieval-ass hospital WAS this? Maybe Dean had a point when he kept teasing Gail about how old she really was. How long had it been since anybody had actually used microfiche?

"If there's nothing else, I'd like to get back to my party now," Wendy said. They thanked her for her time, and then the group walked out of the hospital, gathering to stand on the sidewalk. Gail was staring off into space.

"Holy crap, Gail," Sam said with a grin. "Microfiche?"

"Shut up, Sam," she said automatically, but she was still looking off into the distance.

"What's microfiche?" Dean asked Sam. He was smirking at the expression on his brother's face. Sammy wasn't used to being on the receiving end of one of Gail's "shut ups"; it was almost always Dean.

"I remember her," Gail blurted out suddenly. "I remember sitting at my window, looking down here on the sidewalk. I saw a woman who looked just like that nurse described, looking up at the windows. We even made eye contact at some point, and I remember I was scared, for some reason." She let out a frustrated breath. "Great. Another dead end. I'm starting to think somebody's trying to tell me something."

"Sorry, Agent Newmar," Frank said, putting his arm around her. "Tell you what. You look like you could use some cheering up. Let me tell you about my pants."

VIGNETTE - THE ANGELS IN OUR MIDST

"It's unbelievable how many people pray for their sports teams to win," Becky commented, flopping down on the couch. "No wonder Cas turns off his channel sometimes."

"You should have seen me today," Efram said, smiling. He took a seat on one of the chairs. "There was a little kid sitting on the gravel, at the playground in the park. He'd skinned both of his knees, and he was bawling his face off. So I got down on my hands and knees and healed him, and then I told him a couple of 'knock-knock' jokes until he stopped crying. That was pretty cool."

"No one saw you, I hope," Martin said sharply.

"I'm sure nobody was looking," Efram told the older Angel, with a touch of irritation in his voice. In fact, he hadn't really noticed, one way or the other. It just felt so good to be doing stuff for people.

"Do you have a report for me?" Becky asked Martin. She wanted to do a good job for Cas, so he would let her stay here. Things had been going great so far, and she wanted that to continue.

"Yes," Martin replied. "As I was walking downtown, I saw a bum, slumped in an alleyway."

Efram opened his mouth to tell Martin that he was pretty sure it wasn't politically correct to call people who were down on their luck "bums" any more, but Becky gave him a look that made him close his mouth again. Efram sighed. He guessed Martin was OK if Cas had chosen him for the project, but sometimes Martin talked like he was thousands of years old.

"So I went to see if he was still alive, and he was, but just barely," Martin continued. "So, I put some money in his pocket - "

Becky frowned. "I don't think you should have done that, Martin," she remarked. "He'll probably just buy some drugs with it."

He made a tsk-ing sound. "I know that, Becky. Contrary to what you young people seem to believe, I do know how these things work. And that's why I cured him of his drug addiction."

"Martin!" Becky exclaimed. "Cas's instructions were very specific. We're supposed to heal minor injuries and show compassion to people, but that's it, for now. He wants to start off small. So we're not supposed to call attention to ourselves, and we're not supposed to do anything life-changing."

"I showed him compassion," Martin argued. "Now he's not a - " he looked sharply at Efram " - a derelict any more. Now, he can be a respectable member of society."

"That's not your call," Efram retorted. "Cas said - "

"'Cas said. Cas said'," Martin echoed, making a face. "Look, Efram, I know that you and Riley have a serious case of hero worship when it comes to Castiel, but - "

"Stop it, you two," Becky said, annoyed. This was starting to sound like a really bad episode of Big Brother, or something. Ever since they'd been here on Earth, she had discovered that show on TV, and she loved it. Not that she would ever admit it, of course.

Suddenly, Riley burst into the house, and he came running into the living room. "I think we're in trouble," he said breathlessly.

Cas pressed his lips together. "Tell me again exactly what happened," he said to Riley.

As soon as Becky had called Cas on Angel Radio to tell him they had a situation, Cas had gone over to the boardroom and interrupted the meeting.

Gail's heart sank. "Oh, no, Cas," she'd said once he brought her out into the hallway to tell her. "What happened?"

"That's what we're going to find out," Cas said grimly. "Becky said that Riley has just shown up at the house, covered in blood and very upset."

"Just a second," Gail said. She poked her head in the boardroom door and asked Paul to take over the meeting. Whenever she couldn't be there, Gail had instituted a rotational system for whomever's turn it was next to be in charge, to avoid any perception of favouritism.

So now, Cas and Gail were standing in the living room of the rented house, and Gail was waving her hands over a very distressed Riley to clean the blood from him as Cas was questioning him.

Riley took a deep breath. "I told you, Cas. I was waiting for the light to change when I saw a car wipe out a girl who was crossing against the light, from the other side of the street. I yelled at her to look out, but she was looking down at her cell phone. By the time she looked up, the car had knocked her down and dragged her for about half a block."

"Those damn cell phones," Martin remarked. "Everybody's staring at them these days. No wonder accidents like that happen."

"Be quiet, Martin," Cas said, with an edge to his voice. Riley was on the verge of tears now, and the older Angel wasn't helping.

"By the time I ran over to her, she was bleeding from about a million places, Cas," Riley said pleadingly. "She was screaming in pain. I had no choice."

"So you healed her, and you were seen," Cas said tersely.

"It's worse, Cas," Riley bemoaned. "A news crew just happened to be there, and they filmed it!"

Cas let out a frustrated breath. He'd known that something like this was going to happen. "So then, you came back here?" he asked the young Angel. "Were you followed?"

Riley grimaced. "I panicked, Cas. I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do."

"Were you followed?" Cas asked him again, in a sterner tone.

"I teleported," Riley confessed in a subdued voice, looking down at the floor.

Cas swore in Enochian. This was just the sort of thing he'd been afraid of. He looked angrily at Gail, but before he had the chance to say whatever he might be thinking of saying, she said, "I'm so sorry, Cas. It was a stupid idea. I should have listened to you."

"It WAS a stupid idea, Gail," Martin remarked. "Angels and humans were never meant to mix. All I've seen in all the time I've been here is bad behaviour, and sinfulness."

Cas walked over to where Martin stood leaning against the doorway that led from the living room into the kitchen. "Would you care to tell me again what kind of idea that was?" Cas said quietly, peering closely at Martin's face.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Riley's lips twitched. Cas might be upset right now, but there was still no way anybody was going to get away with insulting Gail in his presence.

Martin knew that too, and he realized he'd gone a step too far. "I'm sorry, my Lord," he said in a subdued tone. "I'm sorry, Gail." He wasn't, really, but Martin knew that if he didn't apologize to her too, that would only make Castiel angrier.

"Fine," Cas said shortly. "Pack your things and go back to Heaven. You too, both of you," he added, looking at Efram and Riley.

"What about me?" Becky asked him, alarmed. She gave Cas her most innocent, pleading look. Becky really didn't want to go back. She loved it here. Cas had told her that he was going to take her to her first modelling job, and if everything was on the level, he was considering letting her stay.

Cas thought for a moment. "Stay here, Becky. Gail and I need to have a conversation, and then we'll talk to you in a minute." He grabbed Gail by the hand and winked them over to the living room of their Earth home.

"Dammit," Gail said, as soon as they were alone. "Maybe Dean should have started a pool on how long it would take for me to look like a total ass. I'm sorry, Cas. Martin was right. I was stupid."

"No, he was wrong," Cas said firmly. "You are not stupid. Just a little naive, maybe. But I am just as much to blame as you are. I allowed you to change my mind, even though my mind was made up. I love you, Gail, but I have to have the strength of my convictions, too. Do you understand?"

Gail sighed. She could see his point. "You're right, Cas," she said to him. "Yes. I understand."

He looked startled. Just like that? No further debate? Gail's lips twitched at his expression. "You don't have to look THAT shocked," she quipped. "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while." That was another one of those sayings that she and Frank used to say to each other when they were in those motel rooms, if they'd had a particularly good day for one reason or another. People had looked at them weirdly when they would use those kinds of expressions, but they didn't care.

Cas had that same kind of look now. "What do vision-challenged rodents have to do with this conversation?" he asked her in the puzzled tone that only he could pull off.

Gail laughed. She loved that tone. "Nothing, sweetie. Never mind. That's my way of saying that I was wrong, and you were right. I'd take it, if I were you. That's not something you're likely to hear from me very often."

A slow smile crept across his face. Cas had felt sure that she was going to give him an argument. That was why he had winked them over here. He put his arms around her now. "I love you, my love," he told her softly. She never ceased to amaze him.

"I love you too, sweetie," she replied.

He leaned down and kissed her. "I have to go to the TV station and do some damage control," Cas said to her. "I want you to wait with Becky for me back at the house. I have decided to grant her wish."

Gail raised an eyebrow. "What wish is that?" she said warily, as if she didn't already know.

"She wants to be a human again, living here on Earth," Cas said patiently. "I'm going to allow it."

"Why?" Gail asked, wrinkling her forehead.

"I don't know, really," Cas admitted. "She just seems so desperately unhappy in Heaven. We did that for Aurielle, if you recall, and look how well that turned out."

"That was different, Cas," Gail pointed out. "Becky isn't Aurielle, and vice versa."

"Nevertheless, it's what I've decided to do," Cas insisted. He was eyeing his wife now, and it was starting to annoy her. It was almost as if he was daring her to argue with him now.

She sighed. "Fine, Cas. Do whatever you think is best."

Cas smiled. He was certainly on a roll, wasn't he?

"But, I'm going with the two of you to that photo shoot, and before the day is over, I'm getting those pictures of you I wanted," Gail said.

"All right, my darling," Cas said softly. If that was all that she required, he would be happy to pose for a few pictures. This had turned out to be a pretty good afternoon for Cas. Once he erased that film and modified the reporters' minds at the TV station, there would have been no real harm done. It could certainly have been a lot worse.

Cas was fully aware of the irony of his stance. After all, once he himself had first come to Earth and gotten mixed up with humans, he had eventually formed such an emotional attachment to them that he had chosen them over Heaven when necessary. But now he was in the plum position of being able to have both. However, his was a special circumstance; at least, that was the story what Cas was going with. Now that he was in the position of Supreme Authority, the responsibility fell to Castiel to decide what was best for the Angels, and it wasn't living on Earth, trying to fit in with humans. Heaven was Heaven, and Earth was Earth. There were separate realms for a reason. If they were to continue with this madness, for all the miracles and good deeds that they would perform, eventually there would be bad things that would happen, too. Look at Martin, and his thinly-veiled scorn for the human race. But perhaps Cas shouldered some of the blame. He had probably chosen unwisely, when it came to the Angels who participated in the project. Was that because, on some level, he had been setting it up to fail? But regardless, they had all been very fortunate that no lasting harm had occurred. They all had enough things to worry about without adding more problems to the list. Jody seemed fine now, but Gail had advised Cas that their sister-in-law was now statistically more likely to contract cancer again, now that she'd already had it once. Also, things had been much too quiet when it came to Raguel, and Vincent. Cas had no illusions that that status would continue for very much longer. Obviously, neither of those two individuals had possession of the Books, or they would surely have used them by now, most likely to tear everything apart. Then, there remained their uneasy detente with Crowley. Cas agreed with Gail when it came to the King of Hell: he knew far more than he was telling when it came to Castiel's wife. But, for the time being, Crowley and Castiel had a common enemy in Raguel. Actually, two common enemies, if you counted Rowena. Cas had promised to kill Crowley's mother, and he had absolutely no problem fulfilling his part of the bargain. But, they had better not put the cart before the horse. She might yet be needed, to help them track down Raguel. Crowley seemed convinced that Rowena might give the Archangel over to them, if they gave her the right incentive. Maybe they were going about things the wrong way, it occurred to Cas now. Maybe they should be proactively looking for the Book of Life and the Book of the Dead themselves. Look at the success they'd had with the Tablets. Surely God the Father would much rather see those Books on the side of Good than with any of the others who apparently sought them.

Cas pulled Gail to him now, holding her tightly. Despite the setback they'd had here, he would consult her for her opinion, and he would weigh what she had to say very seriously. The fact that her idea to have Angels on Earth hadn't worked out meant very little to him. Look at all of the bad decisions Cas had made over the years. So Gail had made one mistake; so what?

"Even a blind squirrel finds a nut, every once in a while," Cas said aloud to his wife, smiling. "I understand, now."

She answered his smile. "There you go."

Cas kissed her again, holding her tightly for a moment. "Let's go," he said. "I have a photo shoot to get to."

He winked them out of the house as Gail laughed merrily.


	5. African Symphony

Chapter 5 - African Symphony

First Movement - I'm Only Human

Cas removed his hand from Becky's forehead as the white light faded away.

She opened her eyes. "That's it?"

"Yes," he told her. "You are human, now. How do you feel?"

She thought for a moment. "Hungry. And, like I have to pee."

He nodded. "Yes, those are the predominant feelings that I remember. Are you sure this is what you want, Becky?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, Cas," she said, smiling. "Thanks a lot. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. You were great to give me this house, but once I start working with the modelling agency, I'll be able to pay my rent, and buy my own food. I can be independent." Becky was extremely excited. This was a whole new start for her. She could do anything she wanted, now. She saw Gail looking at her dubiously, but Becky made herself smile pleasantly. Maybe Becky was no longer an Angel, and maybe she still wasn't the smartest person in the world, but she knew better than to be rude to Gail while Cas was around.

"Can we go to the photographers' now, please?" Becky asked the couple deferentially. "I can't wait till you see this photo shoot, Gail. I think you'll really enjoy it. I can't wait to go to a store and pick up a magazine, and see myself in it. Or Cas."

"I'm only going to do it once, because Gail asked me to," Cas said quickly. "But if you are able to do it for a living, Becky, go ahead and do so. We will make sure that these people do not act improperly towards you today, but if they should ask you to do anything indecent in the future, call me right away, and I will deal with them."

Gail gave Cas the side-eye. When did they become Becky's parents? But then, she checked herself. She wouldn't want these people to be the type of individuals who might take advantage of Becky, just because she was so eager to take the job, and perhaps a little too naive. Cas was just doing what he did; being a gentleman. Put it this way: these people they were going to see had better not have anything improper on their minds, or they might find their studio a little toasty, with the Holy Fire that Cas could rain down on them.

"Let's go, then," she said, taking Becky's hand.

The photographer was very nice, and the whole operation seemed legitimate. As Becky changed into her wardrobe for the first set of photos, Ken showed Cas and Gail some of the pictures in his portfolio, and some of the magazine layouts he had done.

"Don't worry," Ken said in answer to Cas's questions. "We don't take those kinds of pictures here. I only do spreads for legitimate fashion magazines. I'm not going to say we don't do sexy shoots, because, let's face it, sex sells. But I do glamour shots, not porn. Becky's got that wholesome look. I'm not going to ask her to do anything she doesn't want to do. For instance, look at what she's wearing now."

Becky came out of the dressing room wearing a striped tank top and a pair of shorts. The top showed a wee bit of cleavage, but it was nothing that Gail herself hadn't shown from time to time in her day-to-day wardrobe.

"We're going to have her do some summer shots for next year's catalogue," Ken told them. "Then we're going to give her some blonder hair extensions and put her in high heels and designer jeans. Maybe some Western shots, with boots and a cowgirl hat."

Cas and Gail looked at each other, and Cas nodded. That sounded just fine to him. "Are you still going to do a layout?" Ken asked Cas.

"What did you have in mind for him?" Gail said eagerly.

"I think we should mess up your hair a little," Ken mused aloud, scrutinizing Cas. "I kind of like what you're wearing now, but I also want to put you in a suit. Then we'll lose the blazer. Have you ever worn a muscle shirt?"

Gail made a sound in her throat, but she covered it up with a cough. She leaned forward and said something softly to Ken, who smiled and nodded. "After a formal shoot here, I think that could be arranged," he said to her. "It wouldn't be the first time I've had a request like that from one of my models' significant others."

Gail smiled. "Well then, let's get that formal shoot done."

After Becky had finished her portion of the shoot and Cas had popped her back to the house, he came back to the studio to find Gail and Ken having a cup of coffee together and laughing. Cas looked at Ken coolly, but Gail took her husband's arm and said, "Ken's been telling me a funny story about a trip he and his boyfriend took to Italy."

Cas looked at her for a moment, and then he relaxed. Oh. He'd been wondering if Ken had been flirting with Gail in his absence, so now he felt better.

"Are you ready?" Ken asked Cas.

"I suppose so," Cas replied. He ran his hand over his face. "Do you have a mirror here? I should probably shave."

"Don't you dare," Ken said quickly. "Keep that stubble. It's sexy."

"Do you think so?" Cas said, smiling. "Gail says the same thing, but I know it scratches her."

Ken's pulse quickened. He'd lay in a year's supply of bandages and disinfectant, if he could only be scratched that way by this guy. But then, he cleared his throat, and his thoughts. He was a professional, and Cas was married to a woman, who was right here, and looking at Ken now as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. And she probably did, too. You couldn't be married to a guy who was this good-looking and not be aware of the interest in him, from people of both sexes, Ken was sure. But Gail must be a special person herself, in her own right. Cas looked at her with nothing but love in his eyes, and Gail had told Ken while Cas had been taking Becky home that the two of them had been happily together for a number of years now. More power to her, Ken thought.

"I think we'll start off with what you're wearing right now," Ken said to Cas. "I like the blazer, shirt and jeans combination."

So they took a few pictures of Cas like that, and then Ken said, "Now I'd like you to take off the blazer. You can hang it up in the wardrobe area, back there."

Cas shrugged off the blazer, but instead, he came over to where Gail was sitting and watching, and he handed the blazer to her. "My Angel blade is in the inside pocket," he said softly into her ear, and she nodded in understanding. He never liked to be separated from that. With all of the enemies they had, both past and present, Gail couldn't blame him. She folded the blazer in her lap.

After a few more photos, Ken asked Cas to go into the wardrobe area and pick out a suit to change into. He did, and a few minutes later, he came out in a dark suit, with a blue tie that matched his eyes.

They took some more photos, and then Ken was looking thoughtful. "You look great, but there's something missing," he said to Cas. "Wait here."

Ken went back into the wardrobe area as Cas looked at Gail and shrugged. "I guess I'm not as photogenic as you seem to think I am," he said to her, almost apologetically.

"Nonsense," she said firmly. "He's probably just going to get something that will complete this look."

It was a good thing that Angels didn't pee themselves, Gail thought, when Ken came back out, holding a trenchcoat. "Try this," he said to Cas.

Ken spent a lot longer with Cas than he normally did with clients, partially because the guy looked good in everything, and partly because Cas's wife was enjoying herself so much. Cas had relaxed a bit after the initial self-consciousness, and he seemed to be enjoying showing off different outfits to his wife. She laughed and clapped delightedly when he came out in different types of clothes. Ken had the music playing very loudly now, and Cas recognized many of the songs because Gail liked popular music so much. He had to admit that he had begun to enjoy himself.

Then, as the session wound down, Cas agreed to a shirtless picture; just one, at his wife's urging. He had been wearing a blue shirt and black dress pants, and he doffed the shirt now and hung it over a chair.

"I feel a little foolish, but my wife has requested a picture of me like this, and I didn't want to disappoint her," Cas explained to Ken.

The photographer was frozen in place, speechless for a moment. Wow. Cas was a lot more built than Ken had originally thought. It was a crime to hide that kind of beauty under all those layers. Ken's mouth dried up as he tried to imagine what it would be like to be Gail, even for an hour. How did she stand it? How did she ever let him put all of those clothes on? Or better still, how did she ever even let Cas leave the house? A guy this good-looking, this built, and this nice? She had to be the most secure woman in the universe.

"Just a minute," Gail said. She went over to a table at the side of the room and grabbed a rose from the bouquet of them that were in a vase there. She brought the rose over to Cas. "Can you hold this?" she asked him.

He nodded. Certainly, if that was what she wanted.

Ken snapped the picture, and then he took another couple, just because. One of them was definitely going to go in his portfolio, and another might just have to find its way into his bedroom. He would tell his boyfriend that it was an art print he had picked up. Yeah. An art print.

"Can you take just one more, of us together?" Cas asked Ken, gesturing to Gail to come into the frame.

"Sure," Ken said with a smile. Hey, what was a little harmless objectification among friends? This was probably the last time he would see the both of them, and Ken loved his boyfriend. It was just...damn.

Gail approached Cas, and Ken motioned for her to stand closer to her husband. He took a picture, and then he directed her to turn her back to Cas as her husband put his hands around her waist. Then, Ken had Gail put her arms around her husband, nuzzling Cas's chest, and Cas put his hand on her head, stroking her hair. Gail thought this might be her favourite pose of all.

"OK, that's a wrap," Ken announced, before he allowed himself to venture into a questionable area with the poses. For a moment, he pictured having Gail kneel in front of Cas, as if she were going to...But, no. No. Just because Ken would have loved to have found himself in that position, that didn't make it right. They weren't in the porn industry, here. "I'll call you when the photos are ready," Ken told the couple. They thanked him and left the studio, as Ken stared after them. Man. Some women had all the luck.

Second Movement - Afternoon Delight

"Just look at him," Gail was saying to Liz, as she showed her friend the glossy pictures of Cas that Ken had taken.

"He looks good, Gail," her friend said.

Gail looked at her. "Well, don't sound so excited," she said dryly.

Liz sat back on the couch. She and Gail were sitting in Gail's office, catching up. "I'm sorry," Liz said now. "I'm just preoccupied."

"Why? What's the matter?" Gail asked her friend.

Liz frowned. "It's Gabriel. You know we've been on a couple of dates, right?"

Gail nodded. "Right. And...?"

Liz made a face. "How do you know, Gail? How do you know if you can trust a guy? How do you know if he's the one?"

Gail laughed shortly. "How the hell should I know? Cas is the only man I've ever been with. In every sense of the word. I'm hardly the one to ask for advice on men. I just got really, really lucky. But, for the record, Gabriel's a bit of a character, but I think he's a really good guy. He's certainly got to be better than that loser you married on Earth. I'd say 'no offense intended', but I'd be lying," she concluded sarcastically.

Liz smiled. "Thanks, Gail. Thanks for listening, anyway." She picked up the pictures of Cas again. "You're right; your husband is hot."

"I know, right?" Gail said, laughing. "And Canada thinks their Prime Minister is so good-looking. Suck it, Canada. But of course, Canada's leader is way better than that abomination who rules the United States right now. You know, I'm this close to asking Cas to just take that guy out, or maybe to annex the States as part of Canada until his term is over."

The women laughed again. "Is Cas going to be in any magazines?" Liz asked Gail.

"I'm not sure, but it wouldn't surprise me," Gail said, taking the pictures back from Liz. "I mean, look at him. If he's appearing in an ad, I don't care what it's for, I'm buying it."

Liz giggled. "Hey, did you persuade him to take his shirt off for one?"

Gail's lips twitched. She got up from the couch and closed the blinds at the big picture window overlooking the corridor, then locked the office door. Then she went over to her desk and unlocked the bottom drawer, bringing out a file folder.

"I hope he's not looking right now," Gail said to her friend. "He might not be too happy if I showed you these. But you're the only one I'm going to show them to."

Liz was intrigued. How undressed WAS Cas in these pictures, anyway?

Gail sat down next to her friend and showed Liz the pictures that she would be keeping for herself. Liz was both relieved and a little disappointed to see that Cas was only shirtless in them.

"Wow, the way you were acting, I thought he was going to be naked, or something," Liz said with a smile.

"I wish," Gail said, half-jokingly.

"Boy, does he look good," Liz commented. She put the pictures down after looking at them for a minute, looking at her friend. "Can you tell me something?" Liz asked Gail. "What's it like, being with...a deity?"

Gail's lips twitched again. "Could it be that I know a certain somebody who's thinking of getting together with a certain Archangel?"

"May-be," Liz said, trying to look innocent. There was a moment's silence, and then she said hesitantly, "Is it any different than...oh, I don't know. You know what I mean."

"Well, I do, and I don't," Gail answered honestly. "You know that Cas is the only guy I've ever been with, right? But...is there a difference between making love with him when he was an Angel and now, when he's God? Well, yes, in some ways."

Liz was looking at Gail with interest now. "What ways?"

Gail looked off into space. "He's got this thing he does, with the white glow..." She leaned towards her friend and whispered in Liz's ear.

Liz's mouth dropped open. "He does that...to your..." She was so astonished she couldn't even form a complete sentence. She felt all tingly just thinking about it.

Gail smiled slowly. "That's one of the many, many reasons I can't stay away from him, even though we're technically not married, at the moment."

"Nobody cares about that," Liz tried to reassure her, but Gail shook her head. "That's not true," Gail said. "There are a lot of longer-serving Angels who would be very unhappy to hear that their God isn't actually married to the woman he...consorts with, for lack of a better term."

Liz giggled again. "When you 'consort' with God, what do you yell out?" she joked.

Gail smirked. She and Liz were best friends, so that kind of question didn't bother her, not coming from Liz. In fact, if was kind of fun, having a girlfriend to confide these kinds of things to. That was another experience that Gail had never had the chance to have in her youth. She could hardly have had this kind of conversation with Frank, although at one point, she had imagined that she had. Her need for a confidante had apparently been so great that she had manufactured a conversation in her mind with Frank about sex, a conversation that had never taken place. But this was much better. "I just say his name," Gail replied in a serious answer to her friend's question, and then she grinned mischievously. "And, if he's doing his job properly, I say it over and over again."

Both of them laughed, and then Liz asked, "Yeah, but: if a lot of other people call out to the Almighty at the vital moment, which I'm sure a lot of them do, does he hear all of them calling out to him, too? Sort of like prayers?" Then Liz made a face. "Boy, it's a good thing I'm already in Heaven; otherwise, I'd probably go to Hell for what I'm thinking," she went on.

"Hey, I've thought about that, too," Gail told her. "Could you imagine? Boy, I sure hope not." They laughed again, and then Gail's expression turned serious. "Between you and me, it doesn't matter to me whether Cas is God, not. I've always loved him, and I always will. It doesn't matter to me whether he's in the High Office, or on Earth."

Liz looked closely at her friend's face. "What's the matter, Gail? I know that look."

Gail was frowning now. "I don't know, Liz. I honestly don't. Cas thinks it's too quiet, and frankly, so do I. I have a weird feeling, that's all."

The Angels were silent for another moment, just long enough for Cas to pop into the office. Gail hurriedly shoved the photos she'd been showing Liz back into the file folder, and Cas looked at her with an unreadable expression.

"Hello, Liz," he said.

"Hi, Cas," Liz replied, willing herself not to picture him without his shirt on.

There was another moment's silence now that hung between the three of them, and just before it got really awkward, Liz said, "Well, I should get back to work. I'll see you both later." She popped out.

Cas came around to sit beside Gail on the couch. "I was glad to find you here," he said to her. "We haven't seen very much of each other in the past week or so."

"I know," Gail agreed, nodding. "I've been - "

Before she could finish her sentence, Cas was kissing her. His tongue probed her mouth. "Lay down on the couch for me, please," he said without any more preliminary.

Gail was intrigued. That was a little forward for him, even after they had been together all this time. He usually took it a little slower than that. But she kind of liked it. And she'd just been looking at pictures of him with his shirt off, so...It was amazing, she thought. Summer was over, and they were in Heaven now, yet he still had a tan. How did he DO that?

Cas was looking at her now, and a slow smile crept across his face. It was funny how he didn't have to say a word, yet she knew exactly what he was thinking. And she was thinking the same thing.

He waved his hand, and suddenly she was naked from the waist down. He parted her legs, continuing to look at her face. He was driving her nuts. Soon he'd be peeling her off the ceiling.

"Turn over," Cas instructed her. Gail bit her lip. This wasn't his usual way of behaving, but every once in a while...

She flipped over, and Cas lifted her hips, entering her from behind. Then, after a few minutes, she could feel him withdraw from her, and his lips and tongue were on her instead. She started to whimper. She buried her face in the throw pillows on the couch and arched her back, allowing him better access. She cried out his name, pressing herself against his mouth. He had done this to her many times, yet every time, he found a way to make it feel new.

Then he pulled her hips up gently and entered her the other way, and she made a sound of surprise. Whenever they did this, she usually had to ask him first. It was probably because when they had both thought he had been a Demon, that had seemed to be the Demon's preferred position. But Cas had never been a Demon, and he wasn't one now. This was merely another way of making love, one that they had both found brought them pleasure, and what was wrong with that? But Cas was always tentative, worrying that it hurt her. And it did, a bit, but Gail had assured him that if it was done the right way, it also felt good.

Cas reached around her and touched her breasts, teasing her nipples with his fingers. He leaned forward and kissed her back and her neck, still thrusting gently forward. Then he grabbed her by the hips, pulling her toward him. "What do you need, Gail?" he murmured.

Her eyebrows rose. It had been ages since he'd asked her that. It excited her so much that she reached around and grabbed his hand. "This," she said, putting it in-between her legs.

Cas smiled. That, he could do. He stroked her with one finger, then two, and then he inserted another into her, still pushing into her from behind.

Gail shouted, burrowing her face into the pillows again. She raised the lower half of her body so that it was right up against his pelvis, and he sped up. A moment later, he groaned loudly, wrapping his other arm around her waist, pressing himself close to her.

He moved away from her and gently flipped her onto her back. "I love you, my darling," he told her.

"I love you too, Cas," she replied, reaching up to caress him. "That was wonderful."

He smiled charmingly. "You seem to be under the impression that it's over," he said as he put his hands under her knees and lifted her legs, parting them, "when nothing could be further from the truth."

He lowered his head to her, still holding her legs with his hands. She watched him as he touched her with his tongue. She made a noise, and he looked up at her. It was incredible. How many times in a row could he make her feel like this?

"As many times as there are stars in the sky," Cas said in answer to her unspoken question. "As many times as it will take for me to prove to you that I love you more than life itself. And, as many times as it will take for you to tell me that you will want to remarry me, once we undergo the annulment ritual."

Now Gail got it. Or at least, she thought she did. In reality, she had no idea. Cas was withholding a great deal of information from her about that particular little set of rules. His insecurities had been gnawing away at him. What if Gail discovered that she preferred the alternative? When Cas made love to his wife, when she said his name over and over again and told him that she loved him, he felt as if she was somehow dependent on him. But the reality was, he was dependent on her. It had always been that way, ever since the day they had met.

"I love you, Cas. You have nothing to prove to me," Gail insisted.

But Cas wasn't so sure. Depending upon who the stones chose for the fourth step of the ritual, Gail might just discover that there was someone better for her than him. Someone who didn't screw up all the time. What if it was Gabriel? He was an Archangel with prodigious powers, and he made Gail laugh. She loved to laugh. Cas knew that Gabriel liked Gail. He'd come up with a pet name for her within seconds of meeting her, and Cas had seen them holding hands from time to time. Not that he suspected that there was anything going on between them, of course. They were both far too loyal to Cas. But what if the ancient ritual were to put them together?

What if it was Chuck? He was with Laurel now, but Cas knew that Chuck had always had special feelings for Gail. Cas was sure that, when Chuck had been seeing Cas and Gail making love, or more accurately, spying on them under the guise of being a Prophet, it wasn't Cas who Chuck had fantasized about, trembling beneath him, as Gail was trembling beneath Cas now.

What if it was Dean? His sexual prowess was legendary. Dean and Nicole were a couple, but Dean hardly ever saw his girlfriend these days. Cas didn't want to, but he could almost picture Dean making love to Gail in the same way as Cas had just been doing, and Gail crying out Dean's name, instead of Cas's. The two of them may fight like brother and sister, but Cas knew that great passion sometimes rose out of such encounters. Cas himself had sometimes disagreed with Gail more vehemently than perhaps he needed to, because there was just something so attractive about Gail when she lifted her face to him, and stood up to him. Dean would have to be made out of stone not to feel that.

But it was Sam who worried Cas the most. In many ways, it should have been Sam and Gail who were a couple, to begin with. Cas was not a stupid man, nor was he oblivious. He knew very well that Sam loved his wife. But Cas couldn't blame Sam, nor could he get angry at the younger Winchester because of it. Sam and Gail were both highly intelligent, and both were younger siblings who had lived under their older brothers' shadows for most of their lives. They shared a liking for pop music, and would rather spend their days reading books than just about anything else. When Cas had come into the bunker that night, Sam had already been developing feelings for Gail. What had made Gail turn her head from Sam and focus on Castiel, instead? Had it been the fact that Cas had needed her, as opposed to Sam, who had merely wanted her? What if the stones chose Sam as Gail's mate, when the time came to perform that part of the ritual? What was Cas supposed to do then? Just sit back and accept it? Kill Sam? Or, kill himself?

"Cas? Are you OK?" Gail said now, shaking him out of his reverie.

Cas sighed inwardly. "Yes, I'm fine, my love."

"Well, you've got me in kind of a vulnerable position here," she said dryly. "So either let me up or do something about it, will you?"

Cas almost asked her which she would prefer, and then he decided that he was being ridiculous. He was borrowing trouble. Who was it that Gail had chosen to go with, all those years ago? Who had she given her virtue to? She had been through the fires of Hell with Cas, and that was not just a metaphor. She had stood trial with him, and when Metatron had led them to believe that Cas had allowed himself to become a monster of the worst sort, Gail had not even deserted Cas then, although no one would have blamed her if she had. Not even Cas himself. Yes, she had made him leave her, but that was no less than he would have deserved, had he actually committed the offences. But even then, she had not completely written him out of her life. And again recently, when he had betrayed her and their family by making that damnable deal with Rudy, Gail had stood by him until he had been cured. So where on earth was this sudden insecurity coming from? Gail loved Cas. He knew she did. Of course she did.

He moved up her body and kissed her on the mouth, and then he placed her leg over his shoulder and slid down her body again. He licked her just as he knew she liked, and she clutched his hair with both hands, pulling his head closer to her. Cas sped up his motion, and she made a noise.

"Close your eyes," he instructed, and Gail did. The white light came from Cas then, and Gail shouted again, bucking her hips. Cas had told her that he was only going to save that particular move for special occasions, but the way he was feeling now, he was determined to use whatever edge he had to remind her that out of all those potential suitors, he had the most to offer her.

Gail cried out his name, and then she was reduced to making inarticulate sounds. Even though her eyes had been closed, she knew that Cas had used the extra power he had on her. But she was hardly in any position to argue. A part of her was wondering where this sudden insecurity of his was coming from, though. Gail knew her husband very well, and based on what he'd said about the ritual, she knew that there was a lot more to it than he was telling her. What else was new? But now, he was gripping her by the hips, pulling her even closer, and his tongue was moving the way that she liked the best, and then she cried out again, threading her fingers through his hair.

A minute or two later, Cas was pushing himself into her excitedly. He loved it when she cried out like that. The more carried away she got, he knew the better he was making her feel, and the happier he was as a result.

"Do you love me?" Cas asked her. He pushed forward, thrusting himself into her, watching her face.

"Of course I do," Gail said languidly. She had no idea what had gotten into her husband, but she liked it. She was basically putty in his hands now. She threw her head back, watching him make love to her. He was caressing her skin lightly, teasing her. He'd stopped moving now, and he was just looking down at her face.

"Say it, please," Cas said to her, and Gail smiled. "I love you, Cas," she said. "I love you so much. I love you more than anything."

He started to move again. "More than anyone else?" he asked her.

"Yes, Cas, of course."

He lifted both of her legs over his shoulders. "Say it."

Gail's stomach fluttered. This was unusual, even coming from him, but it was kind of sexy, too. She could see his muscles flex as he lifted her legs, and he kissed and licked the insides of her thighs as he lifted her legs high. He pushed into her.

"Say that again. What you just said," Gail requested.

"Say it," he said in his low, gravelly voice. "Say you love me, and only me. Say you will never be with another."

"I love you, and only you, Cas," she told him, caressing his chest and arms. "I could never be with anyone else. You're my husband. I place you above all others."

That left Cas speechless with excitement for a moment. It excited him so much that he pushed forward into her so hard that the couch moved several feet forward. Gail grunted in surprise, but he could see that she was smiling, and when Cas felt the warm rush, she felt hers, too.

Cas lay on top of her for a moment, and then he conjured a soft blanket out of thin air to wrap them both in. He whispered terms of endearment to his wife until he got his breath back, and then he cuddled her in his arms, telling her that his life was hers, and her life was his, and that neither one of them could exist without the other. He'd known that ever since the day they'd met, but it had never been made more clear to him than when Raguel had used the overleaf of the Book of Life to show Castiel the alternative world that could be, if Raguel so chose.

"But I don't understand, Cas," Gail said, clinging to him. Every time he described what he'd experienced to her, it scared her more and more. Cas wasn't describing a concept to her, he was describing an actual state of being. "Why didn't I exist, in this alternate universe of his?"

Cas held her even tighter. The thought scared him, too. "You must not have come into being, somehow," he told her. "That is why I no longer think we should just sit back and let others dictate what is to be. I think we need to mount our own search for these Books. I can't risk them falling into the hands of any of the individuals who wish us harm. What do you say, my love? Are you in agreement?"

Gail wrapped her arms around her husband, nuzzling him. "Definitely, Cas. I think that's a great idea."

He smiled down at her. "Do you mind going out on the road with me, even though we are not married?"

"Are you kidding?" Gail said, smiling back. "We'll get separate hotel rooms, and then you can come and visit me. It'll be hot. Just like this was."

Cas kissed her. "At some point, we will have to undergo the ancient ritual, though, if we hope to remarry."

Gail gave him a half-shrug. "Let's just worry about that when the time comes." She started to caress him, under the blanket. "Now, how about you give me a preview of what I can look forward to, when you sneak into my hotel room at night? Should I get a bigger bed?" she joked.

"If you wish," Cas said in a low voice, raising an eyebrow to her. "But you know that it does not really matter. We can make love in many different ways, and in many different locations. In fact..."

He popped her over to their suite in Heaven, but instead of taking her to the bedroom, or even to the couch, Cas pushed her gently against the wall. The blanket they'd had wrapped around them fell to the floor as he kissed her with his tongue.

"We can make love right here," Cas murmured. "Do you remember Camelot?"

Gail smiled. Oh, yes. She did.

Cas lifted her by her rear end, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He put one hand behind her head, cushioning her as he drove forward into her, caressing her rear end with his other hand. She had her arms around his neck, and he kissed her on the mouth, breathing heavily. She opened her lips and gave him her tongue, and Cas made a guttural sound in his throat as he licked her tongue with his. He drove her body into the wall, moving quickly.

"Or, we can make love here," Cas said softly. Suddenly, they were on one of the mats in Cas's original Academy classroom. "Do you remember when we spoke about my instructing you here?" he asked her silkily, kneeling over her on the mat. "Would you like me to instruct you now?" He moved his body forward and she took him in her mouth, as he reached back and touched her between her legs.

"How about here?" Cas said, and now, they were in the kitchen at their house on Earth. He had lain her across the kitchen table and he was sitting on a chair in front of her, kissing her thighs.

"Or here?" Cas was bending her over the boardroom table in Heaven now, pushing into her from behind. They had never actually done this here, but Cas had thought about it several times. In fact, on a couple of occasions he had missed a few potentially important points of law, because he had let his mind wander, watching his wife chairing the meeting. He loved and respected Gail, of course, but he couldn't help but fantasize about their private time sometimes, especially when the meetings grew long.

Gail felt the same way. She knew it wasn't a matter of respect, because she knew that Cas held her in high esteem. But every once in a while, she found it very exciting when he took total charge like this. She would be lying if she said that she hadn't fantasized about clearing the boardroom of the board members and having him do what he was doing to her right now.

"Go faster, Cas," she told her husband. "Harder. Please."

He did as she asked, and Gail started making her sounds again. This was incredible. How many times had she cried out in the last hour or so? And when exactly had her life become a porno movie, anyway?

"Cas!" Gail said, but he continued what he was doing, thinking that she was crying out his name in pleasure. And she had been, but..."Cas, please take me back to our suite. I want to talk to you."

The boardroom disappeared, and they were sitting on the couch in their suite in Heaven, fully dressed. Cas took both of her hands in his. "Was I not making you happy?" he asked her, confused.

Gail looked at him warmly. "Of course you were, sweetie. You always make me happy, whether our clothes are on, or off. But I need to talk to you, now. I love you with all my heart, and I love it when we make love, but you're trying too hard, Cas. And I'm not even sure why."

"I fear you won't want to remarry me, after the annulment ritual is over," he said quietly.

"Why? Why would you think that, Cas?" she asked him.

"Because, once the five steps of the process have been undertaken, you may very well decide that someone else is a better alternative to me," Cas said sadly. "Someone who doesn't keep making mistake after mistake, and putting you in harm's way as a result."

Gail felt a flash of anger now. "I can't believe what I'm hearing. You and I exchanged vows, Cas. Sacred ones. I don't care what those five steps are that you're talking about. I don't even care that you haven't even told me what they are yet. Obviously, you're afraid to, which makes me think I'm really going to hate them. But don't insult me by suggesting that I could just run out and get another guy to replace you. Like you're some kind of interchangeable part, or something. Like I could love anybody else even a fraction of how much I love you." Tears welled up in her eyes now. "After everything that we've been through together, don't you dare say that to me, Cas. Don't you dare."

Cas was instantly contrite. He gathered her up in his arms, holding her tightly. "I'm sorry, my love. I'm sorry, Gail. I didn't mean it," he told her. "Shhh. Shhh."

He held her in his arms for quite a while, without another word spoken between them. How had he gotten so lucky? Cas thought dazedly.

Finally Gail sniffled, coming out of the embrace. "So, what exactly ARE those five steps, anyway?" she asked Cas. But, before he had the chance to answer her, there was a knock at the front door of their suite. The two of them looked at each other quizzically.

Cas rose from the couch and crossed the room to the door. He opened it.

"Hi'ya, your Godship," Gabriel said.

Third Movement - Lords Of The Ring

"So, let me get this straight: Frodo is gonna ice God?" Dean said skeptically, grabbing a beer from the mini=fridge in the library area of the bunker. He tossed it to Sam, who made a neat one-handed catch.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Do you ever NOT sound like a 1940s gangster?" he said, heavy on the sarcasm.

But Sam had a half-grin on his face. "Actually, I can't believe you got that reference right," he said to his brother. "Those were what you would call real nerd movies."

Dean shrugged. "Hey, those movies had some cool parts. Like the fight scenes. And, that elf chick was hot."

Sam was shaking his head now. "Oh, come on. You slept through most of the trilogy. And you snored, too. Loud. A couple of times I had to turn the volume up on the TV."

Dean made a face. "I don't snore."

"Yes, you do," Sam and Cas said in unison, making Gabriel smirk. He looked at Gail, who gave him a half-shrug.

"OK, well, maybe if those movies weren't, like, ten hours long, each, I wouldn't have fallen asleep," Dean said defensively.

Sam looked at Gail. "Can you believe this guy?" he asked her.

She smiled. "Actually, I hate to tell you this, Sam, but I'm kind of on Dean's side on this one. That particular franchise was never one of my favourites. Tolkien may have been fantastically creative and gifted, but I also found him to be a little long-winded." She looked at Dean. "Hey, at least you got to fall asleep. I don't have that luxury. I had to stay awake that whole time. I think I must have started playing word games in my head or written an entire song or something, by the time the credits rolled on that last one."

Sam looked at her, astonished. He'd thought for sure that Gail must have liked the trilogy as much as he had. It was like finding out that one of your best friends was a serial killer. Sam looked at Cas. "What about you?" he asked Gail's husband, looking for some support. "Did you like those movies, Cas?"

"What are you asking HIM for?" Dean said to Sam, opening a beer of his own. "Cas'll watch anything. You know that."

"Actually, that's true," Sam said, grinning again. "I once saw him stare at an infomercial for about an hour, because he thought it was a TV show. He WILL watch anything. Literally."

Gail kept silent because she knew that what they were saying was true, and because she knew that the brothers liked to tease Cas sometimes. As long as they weren't hurting his feelings, she didn't really see the harm. But then, they started to go on a long riff about things that Cas would watch: paint drying, hair growing, the ice caps melting...

"OK, that's enough," Gabriel said impatiently. "I don't think you yahoos realize how serious this is."

Sam and Dean looked at him incredulously, and the Archangel made a face. "Do you see how bad it is, now?" Gabe said sardonically. "If I'm the one who's the voice of reason here, that should tell you something. Raguel means business. I've been trying to pin him down in one place long enough for us to do something about him, but he's always one step ahead of me. So then, I had the bright idea to concentrate on the ring, instead. It gives off a really faint 'pinging' sound, sort of like sonar. So, after weeks of searching, I've narrowed its location down to Africa, somewhere in the Northeast."

Sam opened his laptop immediately, pulling up a map of Africa. He still had all of his notes and pictures from the research he and Tommy had done just before the group of them had gone to Egypt, to retrieve the Earth Tablet. He sat back in his chair now, thinking.

"What's the deal with this ring, anyway?" Dean wanted to know. "So, it was Michael's. He was an Archangel, and he had a lot of power. I get that. But God still trumps the Archangels, doesn't he? So why wouldn't Cas be able to win in a straight fight with this Raguel guy, even if he does have the ring? I've seen Cas take on multiple Angels lots of times before, without even breaking a sweat."

"Yeah, but this isn't like that," Gabriel insisted.

"Yes. For one thing, I have Godlike power, but I don't have it all," Cas told Dean. "Neither did Bobby, and nor did Patricia. So, as you would say, I don't have enough juice to defeat the power of three Archangels, combined."

"Three? What do you mean, three?" Dean asked him, puzzled.

Cas and Gabriel exchanged glances, and then Cas cleared his throat.

"What aren't you guys telling us?" Gail asked the men impatiently.

Cas frowned. "Our Father gave Michael the ring, but its original owner was Lucifer," he said gravely. "Therefore, if it is in Raguel's possession now, the ring would hold the power of three Archangels. Raguel could then use those powers to kill me." He and Gabriel exchanged another glance. Cas was only telling them part of the story, and both he and Gabriel knew it. If Raguel decided he didn't want to kill Cas outright, he could also accomplish a few other dastardly deeds once he put that ring on his finger. Gabe could understand why Cas didn't want to tell them about any of that. It was better that they didn't know.

"You guys," Sam said, typing away at his laptop. Then he stopped, staring at the screen. "Do you remember the Coptic Museum in Egypt that we were at? The one where Ibrahim works?"

"Where that nutjob Stu was, who told us all those weird things about our numbers?" Dean said. "Yeah. Why?"

"Because there's some weird stuff going on around there," Sam replied.

"Yeah? Like what?" Dean inquired.

Sam frowned. "Like, spontaneous fires breaking out, then extinguishing themselves. Like wild animals getting suddenly aggressive, and attacking people."

"Fire? Wild animals? Not exactly apocalyptic, Sammy," Dean remarked.

But Cas was agitated now. "It's Raguel. I'm sure of it," he said firmly. "Gabriel and I will leave immediately."

"Wait a minute, cowboy. Slow your roll," Gabriel said, holding up his hands. "What do you mean, 'Gabriel and I'?"

"What do you suppose I mean?" Cas said angrily. "We will go there, and we will kill him, before he has the chance to do any real harm!"

"You can count me out, Cas," Gabriel said uneasily, shaking his head.

"You're kidding us with this, right?" Dean exclaimed. "You're really not gonna help Cas get rid of that dick?"

"How do you know he's a dick?" Gabriel joked nervously.

"He's an Archangel, isn't he?" Dean said through gritted teeth.

"So am I," Gabriel said in a hurt tone.

Dean raised his eyebrows, and Gabe laughed shortly. "Oh. Right. Fine. Here I am, helping, and you're giving me the attitude. What a surprise."

"How exactly are you helping?" Gail said tartly. "By refusing to fight the guy who wants to kill my husband?" She took Cas's hand. "I'll go with you, sweetie. If Gabriel is too much of a coward to help you fight, then I will."

Cas withdrew his hand from hers, horrified. "No, you won't," he told her sternly. "You're not going anywhere near him."

"You can't stop me, Cas," she said stubbornly. "I've been to that Museum, too, you know. I know where it is. So if you go there by yourself, I'll just follow you."

Cas looked helplessly at the Winchesters. "Will the two of you talk some sense into my wife, please? If Raguel and that ring are able to kill ME, imagine what he might do to Gail."

"Are you afraid he'll kill me, Cas?" Gail asked him. "Why would Raguel be looking to kill me? What would be the point of that?"

"No," he growled. "I'm afraid he WON'T." Cas was thinking about the other things that ring could potentially do. She didn't understand. Some things were worse than death. He looked at the Winchesters again. "Please, can you keep her here? Use the Enochian restraints, if you have to."

Now Gail was really getting mad. "I was hoping I'd broken you of the habit of talking about me as if I wasn't in the room. Let me give you a refresher course on how much I hate that." Then she pointed her finger at Sam and Dean. "And if either one of you tries it, I'll zap you into next week."

"I can restrain her, if you want," Gabriel said, smirking. "And I wouldn't even need that pair of fur-lined Enochian handcuffs I've seen in your little sex dungeon to do it."

Dean gave him a double-take, and then he said, "OK, number one, you have no idea what we've got in there. And, number two, you don't get a say in anything that goes on here."

"No, YOU don't," Gabriel retorted. "This is between us Angels."

"Yeah? Well, Sammy and me ain't Angels, but we'll go with Cas, and we'll fight with him," Dean said angrily. "Like real brothers do."

Gabriel glared at him. How could somebody like Dean Winchester ever possibly understand where Gabriel was coming from? "Don't you ever - EVER - presume to talk to me about what real brothers do," the Archangel said furiously. "You and the Jolly Long-Haired Giant there are hardly a shining example of brotherly behaviour. The two of you have had more drama between you than a freakin' Shakespeare festival. Castiel understands."

"Well, I don't," Gail said coolly. "I know you don't like to fight, Gabriel. Neither do I. But, I will. I'll give it everything I've got, and I know Dean and Sam will, too. You know what? You pop in here every now and then with the quips and the sarcasm, and we ARE grateful to you for the information that you provide. But it's time to put up, or shut up. If you won't stand with us, then you can go ahead and leave."

Gabriel looked at them all, his lips pursed so tightly they were almost white. "Don't you think I want to - " he started to say, frustrated that he couldn't make them understand. Truthfully, he wasn't even sure he understood, himself. He was behaving like the yellowest, most low-down coward there was. Even Castiel was looking at him with contempt now. "It's suicide," he told them. "He'll annihilate you."

"Then at least I'll die trying to save the man I love more than anyone, or anything," Gail told the Archangel. "I believe I asked you to leave."

Gabriel snapped his fingers and disappeared, and Cas looked at the brothers. "I can't ask you to lay down your lives for me," he said quietly.

"I don't remember asking you for your opinion," Dean said, standing from his chair. "Get the travel bag, Sammy. Throw anything you think will help in there. At least if we can slow him down long enough, Cas can get some good shots in."

"You mentioned wild animals?" Gail said to Sam speculatively. "I can probably do something with that."

"Please, I don't want any of you to risk yourselves like this," Cas pleaded.

"I know you don't, sweetie," Gail said. "But we're doing it, anyway."

Cas was speechless. He couldn't believe that they would do this for him. Gabriel was right; it was a suicide mission, especially if Raguel had that ring. But Sam and Dean had already gone down the hallway towards the weapons room, and Gail was taking her blade out of her pocket now, looking at it. She saw the expression on Cas's face and put the blade away, moving towards him. He stood from his chair and embraced her, crushing her to him. "I won't let him harm you," Cas told her. "I'll die first."

"Nobody's dying today, except for one Archangel dick," Dean said. He and Sam came back down the hallway, both carrying a duffel bag that was loaded with every weapon they could think of that might help. "Let's go, Cas. We've got your back."

Before Cas could protest again, Gail moved forward and took each brother by the hand, winking them to Egypt.

Fourth Movement - The Deal/No Deal

The quartet had shown up at the Coptic Museum loaded for bear, prepared to face and do battle with Raguel. There was only one problem: he wasn't there.

But Ibrahim was, and as soon as the four of them walked in, he rushed over to Cas. "Hello, Sheik...I mean, Castiel," he amended. "It is so good to see you again. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We need to ask you some questions," Cas said to him, but before he could go on, Ibrahim said, "I'm sorry. He threatened me, Castiel. He told me to tell you that the codices were forgeries. But they're gone now, and so is he."

"Wait, what?" Sam said sharply. "What do you mean? Do you mean those codices are real?"

Ibrahim nodded. "Yes, and he's stolen the Codex, too. I tried to stop him, but he waved his hand, and pinned me to the bookshelves. Then he said that he would leave me alive, so that I could give you the message when you got here."

"Codex?" Cas asked his former manservant, confused.

Ibrahim looked at him in surprise. He'd felt sure that this was what they were here about. Maybe it was just his guilty conscience. "Yes, Castiel," he replied, his brow furrowing. "The ancient coptic Codex, that contains the spells and invocations. Initially, I thought that he was sparing my life because he needed me to provide the translations for him. He seemed extremely frustrated that he could not read the language. But when he left, he had both the Codex and the codices, and he said to tell you that he was - how did he put it? - 'going to the competition'."

Cas was astounded. Spells and invocations? The competition? He looked at his companions. "Will you please excuse us, Ibrahim?" Cas said quietly.

"Certainly, Castiel," the curator said, hurrying away to his office. He had delivered the message; now he wanted as little to do with these people as possible.

"Sam, can you use that computer over there and see if you can find out what Ibrahim is talking about?" Cas asked his friend. "He obviously assumed that I knew about the Codex. But I don't have any idea what he is talking about."

As Sam moved over to the computer, Dean dropped the duffel bag he'd been holding. "What the hell, Cas? I came here ready to kick some Archangel ass, and now you wanna do research?"

Cas held up his hand. "Be patient, Dean. Depending on what we discover, this may change the situation."

"OK, so we already know about those codices," Sam said, studying the computer screen. "They were written in ancient Coptic. So, if they're real, and there's a Codex, then..." He trailed off. "Holy crap."

"What?" Dean said.

Sam looked up from the computer. "It says that two Egyptian brothers found the papyri in 1945, right after the Nazi era."

"The what?" Dean asked him blankly.

"Papyri, Dean. It's the plural of papyrus," Cas said absently. "Go on, Sam."

"Anyway, it says here that they were excited about the find, so they brought the codices into their house to examine them, but of course, they couldn't read the language. Their mother came into the room while they were looking at them and she started grabbing them off the table, screaming that they were evil, and should never see the light of day. Then she threw the ones she had grabbed into the fireplace, but one of the brothers scooped up the rest and ran out of the house with them. They ended up here in the museum, but it took years for scholars to decipher the subject matter of the remaining codices. They were the Gnostic Gospels. There had been 13 of them originally, but only a handful survived: the Codex, the Gospel of Truth, The Origin of the World, and the Dialogue of the Saviour."

"No," Cas breathed. They all looked at him. Angels' complexions didn't change, but Gail could swear he looked pale.

"What do you know about this, Cas?" Sam asked him, curious.

"The Gnostic Gospels are a myth," Cas said, dazed. "They have to be."

"Not according to this, they're not," Sam remarked. "What do you know, Cas?" he repeated.

"Those Gospels, if they are genuine, refer to the origins of mankind, and what purpose it should have," Cas said in a hushed tone. "They outline how to find the truth."

"The truth?" Dean echoed. He was a little freaked out. He'd seen Cas a lot of ways, but he'd never seen him quite like this before. "The truth about what?"

"Everything," Cas replied. "All of it. The creation of everything. Father's plan for the human race. The whereabouts of our Lord, Jesus Christ. And the Codex, if it can be translated, is the key to it all." He began to tremble. "If Raguel is able to translate those Gospels, he can burn it all down. He can wipe out the human race. Let me see that, Sam."

Cas shouldered Sam out of the way, staring intently at the computer screen. Gail and the brothers gaped at each other, open-mouthed. What the hell was THIS, now? They'd arrived at the theatre prepared to see High Noon, and suddenly, they were watching Apocalypse Now, The Sequel. Was Cas kidding with this?

He was not. Cas scrolled down to the description of the Codex. He scanned the paragraph and then slowly straightened up, looking at the others. "Raguel had taken these things to Crowley to be translated. That's what he meant by 'the competition'. We cannot allow that translation to take place."

"How are we supposed to prevent it?" Sam asked him.

But Cas had no answer for that. None at all.

"The last time I saw you, you were leaving with my mother," Crowley said to Raguel. "You could at least have given me a forwarding address, so I could send a wedding gift. Or, a sympathy card. Tell me, how is the whore?"

"I'm not here to talk about your mother," Raguel said stiffly. "I'm here to propose a mutually beneficial arrangement."

Crowley was amused, and he was also intrigued. "You're talking about a deal? You want to make a deal...with me?"

"Yes," Raguel said, tight-lipped.

Well, well, Wasn't this interesting. Crowley relaxed now. He could see that Raguel was holding some papers in his hand. "What do you have there?"

"Some ancient papyri," Raguel responded. "I need you to translate what's on them. I have a Codex, but this language is too complex. I am no scholar. I was an Officer of the Lord God. If Metatron were still alive - "

" - Then you wouldn't have to come to me," Crowley finished, nodding. "But he's not, and you do. So here you are. Tell me: what will you do for me in return, if I provide you with those translations?"

"I will kill your mother," Raguel said quickly.

Crowley eyed the Archangel. He was just a little bit too eager. Those must be some important little scraps of paper he had there.

"You're a little late on that score," the King said, feigning boredom. "I've already got an arrangement in place for that particular item."

"I'll sweeten the pot, as I believe the expression goes," Raguel said quickly. Crowley was trying not to grin now. "Really? I'm listening," he said calmly.

"I'll kill Castiel," Raguel offered.

Now Crowley did smirk. "You're going to kill God," he said sarcastically. "You know, I'd heard that you Archangels had an inflated sense of your own importance in the scheme of things. But let me give you some free advice. I was in the room when Castiel snapped his fingers and imploded Raphael. I was picking bits of your Archangel brother out of my hair for a week afterwards. And Castiel wasn't even God, then."

"I have a secret weapon," Raguel said confidently.

Even more interesting, Crowley thought. "Been raiding Father's pantry, have we?" he asked rhetorically, not really expecting an answer. "Let me see what you've got there, then."

"Do we have a deal?" Raguel asked warily.

"Not so fast. Like any working girl, I need to see some cash up front, before I put out," Crowley said with some humour. "If you think I'm going to just take your word, you can forget it." Raguel frowned, but he said nothing. Finally, Crowley sighed. "All right. Fine. At least tell me what you're holding there, then. The Dead Sea Scrolls? The long-awaited sequel to The Catcher In The Rye? What?"

"They're called the Gnostic Gospels," Raguel said casually. "Nothing that would interest you. Just religious tracts, mostly."

Crowley froze. Raguel obviously believed that the King of Hell would know nothing about the subject. But he had clearly forgotten about Crowley's true, original identity. "Religious tracts," he said, keeping his voice steady. "Oh. Well, in that case, I don't see why not. Give us a little look-see, then."

"Don't you have a contract for me to sign?" Raguel asked him curiously.

Crowley appeared to consider. "No, we're both men of honour, I'm sure," he remarked. "A simple handshake should suffice. But first, I'll have to get a look at the materials. There's no use striking up a bargain if I'm unable to do the translations. If the language is as complex as you say, I might not be able to hold up my end."

"That's what the Codex is for," Raguel said, extending it to Crowley.

The King of Hell took it from him, examining the scrap of parchment. "There are spells and invocations on here," Crowley said after a moment. "That doesn't sound like a religious tract to me."

"Certainly it does," Raguel said arrogantly. "The entire Catholic mass is nothing but a spell, when it comes down to it. The blood of Christ, and the body of Christ? Latin words? Incense? What would you call that? Spells are not always pagan, you know."

Crowley considered that for a moment. He supposed Raguel had a point, there. He looked at the Codex again. Some of the terms on it were unknown even to him, and would require further study. "I think I need a Codex for the Codex," he muttered. Was that...? "Baktiotha," he said aloud.

"What? What's that?" Raguel asked him sharply.

"Oh, nothing," Crowley said airily. "Just musing aloud. You weren't joking about the language being complex, all right."

Crowley betrayed no emotion as he struggled to read the passage. Obviously, from his lack of reaction, Raguel had no idea that "Baktiotha" was a very arcane term for a mysterious divine figure whose identity was a closely guarded secret, but who many religious scholars believed to be Jesus Christ. The whereabouts of God's Son had always been such a secret that none of the major players knew the answer to the question, not even those who had been closest to the Father Himself. Crowley would be very interested to learn the answer to that ancient riddle.

But then, Crowley's eyes lit on another passage, one that interested him far more at the moment. His black heart stopped in his chest. No. It couldn't be. He scanned it again. He could see Raguel stirring restlessly out of the corner of his eye, moving to reclaim the Codex. Smart. Crowley hadn't actually said that they had a deal yet, had he?

The passage he was looking at now stated that, among other things, the Gnostic Gospels contained a spell that could permanently reverse evil possessions. Wait, what? Yes, that was what it said, all right. He was sure of it. The blood in Crowley's vessel froze solid. There was no way he could let any of the God Squad get their hands on that spell. Raguel had dynamite in his possession, here. He obviously knew that the Gospels were important, but only Crowley knew the potential significance of what the Archangel held. Imagine if Moose and Squirrel were to get a hold of that spell. Crowley might as well just hang out a Going Out Of Business sign then, and go back to altering men's clothes for a living.

"Let me see those other papers, for a second?" Crowley said, gesturing.

"Why?" Raguel asked him.

Crowley let out a frustrated breath. "Do you or do you not want the Gospels translated?" he said irritably. "Wasn't that the crux of the deal in the first place?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid," Raguel said acidly. "The Codex you're looking at is the genuine article." He held up the yellowed pieces of paper he had in his hand. "But these are not. I met you here, alone, to see if we could strike up a deal. But I'm hardly fool enough to have brought the actual Gospels with me."

Bollocks, Crowley thought. What a shame. "All right, fair enough," he said calmly. "I'll tell you what. We will meet at a time and place of your choosing. You will bring my mother to the meeting place, and you will kill her in my presence. Then, I will translate exactly half of your little Gospels. Then, if you and I are both satisfied with the way our deal is progressing, you will kill Castiel. If you can accomplish that, I will provide you with the remainder of your translations. How does that sound?"

"Why would you not just provide all of the translations at once?" Raguel asked the King.

Crowley smirked. "You Archangels aren't too big on popular culture, are you? The standard deal is: half up front, the other half after the hit is performed. As I said, I already have a deal in place for my mother's demise. But, seeing as you already have access to her, if you kill her as a show of good faith, I will be willing to help you. But I will decide which parts to translate, and when. If you want the happy ending, you must provide payment in full. If you can actually pull off killing God, you'll have your translations. But in the meantime, I'll hold on to this, so you won't be in a position to renege." Crowley gestured with the Codex, then opened his suit jacket, stashing the piece of parchment inside. He lingered, keeping his coat open, making sure that Raguel saw Crowley's Angel blade.

Then Crowley put his hand out. Raguel looked at it for a moment and then he put his hand in Crowley's, and the men shook. The Archangel withdrew his hand, a look of distaste crossing his face. But in this case, the end would justify the means. Raguel would receive the key to the mysteries of the universe, in exchange for the murders of two individuals. It was the bargain of a lifetime. Rowena meant nothing to Raguel. Ever since the Archangel had used the overleaf of the Book of Life to illustrate to her the way things would truly have gone if she had not borne Crowley, Rowena had been cold and distant to Raguel. Oh, well. No matter. She was expendable, anyway. It was funny, too; Raguel had thought that he was on to something when he'd found the overleaf of the Book of Life crumpled up in the corner in the Great Pyramid at Giza, left there like a discarded candy wrapper. At some point, Raguel had been under the impression that there were clues to the Book's location to be found at the sites of the Seven Wonders of the World. But he'd soon found out that his intel was faulty, and his references were way out of date. Except for the Pyramid, none of the other Wonders even existed any more. They had all been replaced by shopping malls, and restaurants. "Progress", they called it. But Raguel called it Sinful. The Hanging Gardens had been beautiful. How could some ugly concrete building compare with that? So he'd soon abandoned that theory, and he'd been continuing to search for the Books ever since. But this opportunity was too good not to explore.

And Raguel had the ring, for Castiel. He was not as confident as he appeared to be about that particular undertaking, though. But Raguel had known that he had to offer Crowley something big, something that no one else could provide. Almost anyone could murder Rowena, but only Raguel had Michael's signet ring. He hadn't told Crowley about that, because quite frankly, it was none of Crowley's business, it was Heaven's. But there was only one problem. Raguel had tried to put the ring on his finger, but it refused to go. But he held it in his pocket, waiting for the right time and place.

"I'll be in touch," Raguel said to Crowley, and disappeared.

That was Rowena's cue. She had been watching the whole sordid thing, this entire time. She'd taken a calculated risk and slipped the tiny hex bag into Raguel's pocket. Then, she'd alternated between amazement and disgust, as she'd watched the men strike up their bargain.

Now, it was time for her to go. She placed the codices in her satchel and waved her hand over the bowl she'd placed in the middle of the room. She spoke a few words and the ingredients in the bowl ignited, creating a thick, black smoke which permeated the room.

And when Raguel returned a moment later, the smoke was still clouding the room. But Rowena and the codices were gone.

Fifth Movement - Set Directions

"So if I'm not gonna get to kick some ass today, what do you say you pop us over to Madagascar, so I can see Nicole?" Dean asked Cas.

Predictably enough, Cas frowned. "At this very moment, Raguel could be negotiating a deal with Crowley that could eliminate you, and you want to visit a movie set?" he said incredulously.

Dean shrugged. "Hey, Carpe Diem. There you go. There's some Latin for you. Look, Cas, until we figure out what to do about those two, I want to take a minute to check in with my girlfriend. If you knew this might be the last day of your life, wouldn't you want to spend it with Gail?"

Sam and Gail exchanged a smile. "Dude, who are you, and what did you do with my brother?" Sam teased Dean. "Quoting Latin? Being all romantic?"

"Shut up, Sammy," Dean said. "So what do you say, Cas?"

Cas looked at Gail. She gave him a half-shrug. "I have to admit, I'm really curious to see the actress who's playing me in the sequel," she told him. "Besides, Chuck's there, isn't he? Maybe we can get him to channel his inner Prophet, and see if we can get a line on Crowley and Raguel."

"If he could do that, don't you think he would have done it by now?" Dean asked her, and Gail rolled her eyes. "Do you see what you're doing right now? You're undermining your own case," she admonished him. "It's a good thing you didn't represent yourself at your trial, or we'd be visiting you in the Big House." She looked at Cas again. "Besides, I just thought, if the two of them were together somewhere, with those Gospels, he might be able to pick up on all that power in the same place at the same time."

Cas was thoughtful now. Actually, she could have a point about that. But, Cas was God. Why couldn't HE pick up on it? He had sent out The Eye, of course, but he had come up with exactly nothing. Raguel was still shielded, Cas was sure, but he should be able to see Crowley anywhere, even in the depths of Hell. Why couldn't he? Or, for that matter, why couldn't Cas pick up on the Codex, or the Gospels themselves? If they were the Word, directly from the Father Himself, they should be calling out to Castiel like a beacon.

"All right," Cas agreed reluctantly. "I suppose we can go, for a few minutes."

A mere instant after the quartet vanished from the museum, Raguel suddenly appeared. He was in a towering rage. He had turned the hotel room upside down once the smoke from the spell had cleared, but to no avail. Rowena had gone, and she had taken the codices with her. And now, Crowley had the Codex, leaving Raguel with nothing.

Someone had to pay. Raguel popped into Ibrahim's office, startling the curator.

"I gave Castiel your message," Ibrahim blurted out.

"Castiel was here?" Raguel thundered.

"Yes, and I gave him your message," Ibrahim repeated, quaking.

"Well, where is he now?" Raguel demanded.

"I don't know!" the curator exclaimed. "I have no idea! He came here asking about the codices, and I told him I didn't know anything about them!"

Raguel stared at him. "You will give me the copies you made of those documents, immediately."

"I didn't make any copies," Ibrahim said in a small voice. "You promised me that the originals would come back to the museum once you were finished with them. Why do you need copies, then, if you have them in your possession?"

"That is none of your business, human!" Raguel rushed up to Ibrahim's chair, putting his Angel blade to the man's throat. "You have served your purpose to me. I do not need you, or this museum, any more."

"Please don't kill me," Ibrahim pleaded.

"Give me one good reason I should not," Raguel said through gritted teeth. "You told me that the Codex said the Books could be found at one of the Seven Wonders of the World. But the only one of those that exists any more is the Great Pyramid at Giza, here in Egypt. I went there, and all I found was that one page! You lied to me! I don't know why you would do that. You had to know that I would find out."

"I didn't lie!" Ibrahim shouted, panicked. "That is what I read! The Seven Wonders!"

"Then why weren't they there?" Raguel asked him, frustrated.

"I don't know," Ibrahim pleaded. "Please, Sire, spare my life and my museum. It's all I have."

"You're of no use to me," Raguel said coldly, pressing the knife closer against Ibrahim's throat. Beads of blood were forming on the blade now.

"But I could be," Ibrahim said desperately. "I can deliver Castiel to you."

"It's good to see all of you," Richard greeted them heartily, shaking Cas's hand. "I was hoping you would have the time to show up. I'm sure you must be very busy in your new job, Cas." He smiled, lowering his voice. "Thanks for all the great weather we've had. It's easier to shoot all the action scenes when we don't have to worry about rain, or sandstorms."

"Cas has a new job?" Syd said, approaching the group. He clapped Cas on the shoulder. "Hey, what're you up to, man? What's your new job?"

"I'm the manager of a company," Cas said smoothly, his lips twitching. Sam gave him a discreet thumbs-up.

"Yeah?" Syd said, impressed. "Way to go, Cas, man. I always thought you were destined for greatness."

"Fill up your boots, Syd," Cas said to his former co-worker. Syd stared at him for a moment, and then he burst out laughing. "You're awesome, Cas," he said. "Don't ever change."

As Syd walked away, still laughing, Richard said, "We're just about to continue filming the big scene. Do you guys want to watch?"

"Big scene? Do you mean - " Dean started to say, and Richard looked sheepish. "Yes, Dean. That one."

Dean was a little taken aback for a moment. Then he grinned. "Cool. Let's go watch Sammy kill me."

"Dean- " Cas started to say, but Sam merely elbowed his brother. "Dick," he said affably. Enough time had passed, and enough beers had been consumed between the brothers that they could joke about it now.

Gail put her hand in Cas's as they walked to the filming area. "I can't wait to see myself," she said, grinning.

"Dean!" Nicole exclaimed as they got to the place where the wardrobe and makeup trailers were. She ran over to him, and the two of them hugged and kissed. "What a great surprise to see you all like this!" Nicole said, smiling. "You're just in time to see the big scene." She grinned at Dean. "Try not to take it personally."

Then they were watching the filming, and the four of them were amazed. The scene was set up exactly as they remembered it. The only difference, of course, was that the actors were only pretending to fight. Every once in a while, the director would yell "Cut!", and everything would stop. Then Nicole or one of her staff members would walk out and replenish the actors' makeup, or straighten out their clothes. Then some of the crew would walk around, adjusting lighting, or camera angles. While they were doing that, the actors would all joke around with each other. It was so strange to see the actor who played Cas conversing pleasantly with the actor who played Crowley. Then, the actor who played Sam kept reaching around and tickling the back of "Cas's" neck, but every time that actor turned around, "Sam" was looking elsewhere, acting innocent. Then the actor who played Cas would look around, ducking, as if warding off an insect. It was hilarious.

Gail was staring at the actress who was playing her. Now she knew how the guys had been feeling, all this time. It was surreal to see somebody who was you, and yet not you, pretending to do the same things that you yourself had actually done, right here, on this land. Did that even make sense? "Gail" went over to "Cas" now and nudged him, pointing at "Sam". "Cas" ran after "Sam", as "Dean" and "Crowley" laughed together. Then, "Gail" poked "Lucifer" in the stomach, making him giggle.

Lucifer, giggling? Putting his arm around Gail fraternally, and giving her a hug? Boy, this was going to take some getting used to. Gail had better remind herself that this was only make-believe, or she was either going to throw up, or reach for her Angel blade.

"It'll be better when we add the special effects, and the CGI, of course," Chuck said, joining them. "But, what do you guys think? Is it pretty accurate?"

They all murmured that it was, but it was all so surreal that they had very little to say at the moment.

"We've got one more take to get right now, I think, and then we're breaking for an early dinner," Nicole said to Dean. "Can you hang around for a bit?"

"We have to talk to Chuck, anyway," Gail said to the couple. "We'll go and do that now, and we'll meet you back here in a little while."

Dean threw her a look of gratitude. Then, when the scene wrapped, Nicole took Dean by the hand, telling him that she had a trailer of her own now. Heading a department had its perks. Dean winked at the others and allowed her to lead him away.

"I hope I can get online here," the actress who played Gail was saying now. She was tugging the actor who played Cas by the sleeve. "You need to show me how to set up that web page, the one to fund the Wildlife Protection Agency."

Gail burst out laughing. She couldn't help it. The actress was behaving towards her movie husband exactly the same way that Gail behaved towards Cas. The actress was Gail's height, and she had the same hair and eye colour, too. Gail looked at Chuck, and he smiled. "Casting consulted me," he told her. He called the actors over and introduced the actress to her and "Cas's" real-life counterparts.

"It's so good to meet you," Gail said, shaking the woman's hand.

The actress was looking at Gail and Cas, open-mouthed. "Wow. They told me that there was a resemblance, but this is uncanny," the actress said.

"Did I hear you say you work with the Wildlife Protection Agency?" Cas asked the actress.

"Yeah," she confirmed, nodding eagerly. She elbowed the actor who played Cas, who was checking his cell phone. "Movie hubby here is going to help me set up a charity page to help the WPA protect the African rhino. Did you know that the black rhinoceros has been hunted nearly to extinction, by poachers who harvest them for their horns? People in certain cultures believe the horns are an aphrodisiac, even though they're not, and they'll pay top dollar for them. Isn't that disgusting?"

The actor who played Cas lifted his head from his cell phone. "Did someone say aphrodisiac?" he quipped. "I wasn't listening to the rest. She tends to blather on, sometimes."

The actress hit him on the arm, rolling her eyes. "Quit being such a doofus," she said. Then she looked at Gail, smiling. "I hope your Cas doesn't drive you nuts, like this guy does, to me."

"Aaaah, you like it," the actor said affably. Then he looked at Cas, squinting. "You're looking pretty buff there, my friend. What are you trying to do to me? I've been hitting the gym most days, but if they see you, they're gonna make me go even more often."

Cas laughed. "Don't worry, you look just fine the way you are," he told his counterpart.

"I'll say," Gail agreed, perhaps a little too eagerly. That prompted the actress who played her to laugh this time, and once again, Gail was struck by the eerie similarity between the actors and themselves.

"Well, it's been nice to meet you, but we'd better get going," the actress said. "They've got us on a pretty tight schedule." She smiled at Chuck. "I'm loving the work, though. You've written one hell of a story, no pun intended. It's good to be able to play a romantic lead who also gets to kick some ass with the boys. Those kinds of parts don't come along every day." She poked her movie husband. "Come on. Let's get this rhino thing set up, and then have something to eat. I'm starving."

The actors walked away, Chuck smiling after them. "She's cute, isn't she?" he asked Cas and Gail.

"I suppose," Cas replied. "It seems as if she's got a good heart, as do the other cast members. That was one reason I enjoyed working on the show so much. Those people do genuinely care about worthy causes, and they dedicate a lot of their free time and resources to making a difference in the world."

"Maybe we don't need to send Angels to Earth, then," Gail mused aloud. "Maybe they're already here, in the form of humans like those." There was silence for a moment, and then her expression brightened. "She IS cute, though. They look good together, too."

"Like another couple I know," Cas said, giving her hand a squeeze.

"And the love scenes between them? Hot," Chuck chipped in. "In fact, they want me to write more of those." Cas gave him a sharp look, and Chuck stopped smiling. Right. He'd better cool it on that kind of talk. Luckily for Chuck, since he and Laurel had gotten serious about each other, he was no longer deprived in that department. But there had been a time a while back when he had used his status as a Prophet to become a little too much of a voyeur when it came to Cas and Gail's sex life, and Cas had obviously not forgotten about that. "Sorry, Cas," Chuck apologized sheepishly.

But Gail had either forgotten, or she missed the look the men exchanged, because she smiled and said, "I hope we get to see one or two of those love scenes in the new movie. That would be interesting."

Chuck cleared his throat, avoiding Cas's gaze. "Anyway, I should get back to my tent," he said. "I'm writing about the aftermath of Lucifer's death right now, and I'm kind of struggling to find the right balance between triumph and pathos, if you know what I mean."

"Because Lucifer's gone, but Dean is dead," Sam said matter-of-factly.

"Exactly," Chuck replied, and then he looked chagrined. "I don't know what the hell I'm thinking. I have the perfect resource, right here. Do you think you could help me with that, Sam? After all, you lived it. If it wouldn't be too traumatic for you, that is."

Sam thought about that for a moment, and then he shrugged. "Nah. It's OK. Dean and I have died so many times now that we tend to get over these things pretty quick," he quipped.

"Do you two want to come along?" Chuck asked Cas and Gail. "I'd actually like to get Gail's input on that whole revival spell thing."

Sam smiled warmly at Gail. "I wouldn't mind re-living that either, any time," he said.

"No," Cas said tersely. "You two go ahead."

They all looked at him, surprised. He was working his jaw now, almost as if he was angry. After a moment, Gail said, "Go ahead, you guys. We'll catch up."

Chuck and Sam walked off together, and then Gail and Cas were alone. She looked at him. "What's up with you, all of a sudden?"

Cas didn't know what to say. How could he tell her that he was feeling insecure again? She had gotten so angry when he had talked to her about it in Heaven, before they'd come here to Egypt. And for the most part, he couldn't blame her. Gail had never shown him anything other than love and loyalty. But she was the only woman who Cas had ever loved, and she was the only one he would ever want to love. His feelings for her were so intense that the insecure part of him couldn't stand the thought of another man possibly having feelings for her, too. Once this latest crisis passed, assuming that they would be able to prevent Raguel and Crowley from ending everything, of course, Cas would have to initiate the annulment process as soon as possible. He simply wouldn't feel right until he and Gail were remarried. IF they were remarried.

"I was thinking about the endangered rhinoceros," Cas lied. "It's terrible that one of Father's magnificent creatures is on the verge of extinction, just because of human folly. What a waste." But even though Cas had said that just to cover up what had truly been bothering him, as soon as he did say it, he realized the truth of what he was saying. It really WAS a tragic, senseless situation.

Gail put her hand in his. "Let's go talk to Chuck."

But Chuck didn't have anything to tell them. "I'm sorry, you guys, but I think my Prophet thing is on the fritz," he said apologetically. "Ever since I started writing these scripts, I've been blocked. All I can see are plot lines, and character development."

"Writers," Sam said affably, shaking his head. Chuck gave him a double-take, but the younger Winchester didn't seem as if he was being sarcastic. They'd actually had a pretty civilized chat about that whole Sam-killing-his-brother-to-save-the-world-from-the-Devil thing. Then Cas and Gail had chimed in, talking about their feelings about the battle, and the aftermath. Chuck nodded as Gail talked about the way that she and Sam got the ingredients for the revival spell together. He remembered very well when she had come up to Heaven's library to photocopy the page of the book that had the revival spell. But Gail was so busy reminiscing that she didn't notice the expression on Cas's face. He was frowning deeply. He remembered that very well, too. All he needed the way he was feeling right now was a reminder of how his own wife and a man he looked upon as a brother had basically been sneaking around behind his back. They'd had their reasons at the time, but that had nonetheless been a crisis point in their marriage. Now it seemed as if they were going to have another one, when they had to undergo the last part of the annulment process. Well, that was unless Raguel was successful in annihilating the human race, of course. Then, he supposed the whole point would be rendered moot.

"Anyway, as we all know, it turned out all right in the end, but I never want to go through that again," Gail said to Chuck now. "That was the worst thing I think I'll ever experience. I'm never going to go to another Hunter funeral again, ever."

"What? You won't come to my funeral?" Sam joked.

"You're not allowed to die," Gail said, pointing his finger at the men. "You got that? None of you are. Ever."

"Are you gonna be here for a while?" Chuck asked them, gathering up his script notes. "I'd love it if you could watch the scene, once they resume filming. Then you can give me any constructive criticism you might have."

Sam shrugged, looking at Cas. "I guess we could hang around for a bit, huh, Cas?"

Cas took Gail's hand. "Why don't you go ahead?" he said to the men. "I want to talk to Gail for a minute."

Once Chuck and Sam left, Gail turned to face Cas. "What's going on with you, Cas?" she asked him, looking curiously at his face. "You're acting weird again."

"I don't want to watch filming," he told her. "I want to go somewhere with you, just the two of us."

"Where do you want to go?" she inquired. Cas told her what he had in mind, and her face broke into a smile. "That's a great idea, Cas!" she enthused. "I would love to do that!"

"I just sent the message to Chuck, telling him that we'll be back soon," Cas said. Then he winked them away.

Sixth Movement - The Halo Effect

Dejuan's parents were at the church, so he let the Angels into the house, ushering them into the living room area. "Mother and Father will be so sorry they missed you!" he said excitedly. "What can I get for you? I can make tea, and I think that there might be some cookies in the pantry. And, if not - "

Cas smiled gently. "Please, have a seat, Dejuan. We don't actually eat or drink, as a rule. Christmas was a special occasion."

The youth stopped short, smiling sheepishly. "I'm sorry, Yissa, I forgot. I was just so happy to see the both of you."

Gail was gaping at the boy. She couldn't believe it. He was almost Rob's height now, and his voice was deeper. Where did the time go?

Dejuan sat down across from them. "How are things going in your village?" Cas asked him. "How are your parents? Has there been enough rain?"

"We have been blessed with a good summer," the young man told him. "We have rain when we need it, and it has not been too hot. Thank you for the blessings."

Gail's lips twitched. "Do you still have the kite, or are you too big to play with it anymore?"

Dejuan smiled. "I hope you do not mind, but I don't keep the kite any longer. Now it hangs on a hook in the vestibule of the school. It belongs to all of the children in town, now. Any one of them can just take it and use it, provided they are done with their chores at home. But, do not worry; they all take turns, and they share. Regrettably, I do not have much time to play anymore. As I am older, and I am an only child, it is my responsibility to go out and earn money. So, I achieved a position at the grocers' in town. I go there after school and sweep up, and I stock the shelves and help the owner do inventory. Next week, he will show me how to work the cash register. I am only home today because it is my day off. The salary is very little, but I give half to my parents, and the other half, I save in a bank account that my father helped me to open. This Christmas, we will take what I have saved and buy gifts for the poorest children in the village."

Gail was astonished. "That's wonderful, Dejuan! But what about yourself? Don't you keep anything for yourself?"

He shrugged. "I have everything I need. I am receiving schooling, and I am learning a job. I took my example from the two of you. I remember what a joy it was to wake up Christmas morning and find that kite and those books here, for me. For me. So I want to share that feeling with the smaller children, to give them the same feeling that I received. Am I expressing that correctly? I work very hard on my English."

"You expressed it very well, Dejuan," Cas said, touched by the young man's simple eloquence, and his giving attitude.

Dejuan smiled. "Oh, and by the way, the books you gave me are also in the school now, in the library there. I believe that every little girl and boy has read them by now. I myself read them numerous times. Many adults say that magic does not exist, but I respectfully disagree. Whenever I look at the faces of the children who are flying that kite, or reading those books, I see proof that it does."

Gail's eyes stung with tears, and her lower lip was trembling. "Have I upset you?" the youth said, alarmed.

"No," she assured him. "Just the opposite." She sniffled, and Cas gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "We have to go, now," Cas told the young man. "Please give your parents our best regards. My wife and I are very happy to see what a wonderful man you are on the way to becoming."

"I learned that from you also, Yissa," Dejuan said. "And now, the spirit of giving that you have shown us will be passed down, through all of the children in the village."

The Angels left the house and walked down the dirt road, hand in hand. Gail sniffled again. "Darn that kid," she quipped. "Every time I see him, he's making me cry. We've got to do something, Cas."

Cas was nodding. "I have an idea."

Then they were back at the movie set, talking to the actor who played Castiel. Cas explained about Dejuan, and the poor children in his village. "I know that you have a charitable foundation that helps out families of this nature," Cas said to the actor. "I thought you might like to give some money to the school for books and supplies, and maybe a few toys, as well. Dejuan shouldn't have to give his entire salary for that purpose, but I know that he will do it. But, if the children were all to receive toys at Christmastime, perhaps he will be able to save a little money for himself."

The actor eyed the couple speculatively. "How do you know so much about the situation?"

Cas smiled enigmatically. "Let's just say that we're old friends of the family."

The actor thought for another minute. "We're kind of stretched thin at the moment, Cas," he said reluctantly. "I just signed a huge cheque for a dancing school in Johannesburg. The woman who teaches all the disadvantaged kids there is dying of cancer, and the school would have had to close once she was gone, if it hadn't been for the generosity of our fans who gave to my foundation."

"A dancing school?" Cas echoed, puzzled. "Isn't that rather frivolous? I know that we said the children in the village should have some toys, but mainly, would they not benefit more from school supplies, and books? Should the older ones not learn how to farm, or receive training in the trades, instead? Dreams are wonderful, but they cannot feed and clothe people."

The actor regarded Cas, an unreadable expression on his face. Then, he sighed. "You're not wrong, but..." He sighed again, trying to figure out how to articulate what he wanted to say. "The man who brought my attention to this particular school has prosthetic legs. Most people he meets for the first time don't even know that he does. He told me that he didn't want to go into fund-raising having people donate to his causes mainly because they felt sorry for him. Anyway, nothing slows this guy down. He travels all over the world, finding causes that don't make the headlines, and then he beats every bush and shakes every tree until he gets them what they need. When we raised enough money to keep the school open for nearly a decade, he sent me a video of the kids, teaching him a couple of dance steps. He hadn't tried to dance since he lost his legs, but if you'd seen his face..." His voice cracked. "And then, you look at the faces of those kids when they dance, and you're transformed, because they are. They're just so damn happy. One of the older kids is actually going to get to go to America on a dance scholarship that he earned when he sent in videos to the major arts schools in New York. And when we told the lady who started it all that her legacy would live on for the foreseeable future..." His voice broke again, and he took a moment to collect himself, clearing his throat. "All because an actor from a TV and movie franchise that people seem to like got online one day and asked people to open up their hearts, and then their wallets. I play an Angel, but the real Angels are my friend with the prosthetic legs, and the woman who established a dance academy that gives kids from dirt-poor families a reason to smile. And, the people all over the world who give whatever they can afford, to do kind things for those people. Yes, it's frivolous, but we also feed and clothe people, and we build schools, and housing, too. You need to feed the heart and the soul too, Cas. I'm surprised you wouldn't recognize that. You, of all people."

Cas's forehead wrinkled. "What do you mean?"

The actor's gaze was penetrating. "I overheard Richard and Chuck talking. You and Gail are Angels, aren't you? Actual Angels?"

Gail's heart sank for a moment. So soon on the heels of her failed pilot project, her first reaction was chagrin that someone else had found out about their supposed secret. But then, she thought about it. It could be a lot worse. The man they were talking to right now could well be considered an Angel himself, with all of the wonderful things that he was doing.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Cas smiled. "I'm God now, actually," he said to the actor. "I recently received a promotion."

The look on the actor's face was priceless. After taking a moment to regroup, he smiled, too. "OK, well...at the risk of having you smite me into next week, why aren't YOU helping these kids yourself, then?" the actor asked Cas.

"The Halo Effect," Gail interjected, and the actor looked at her. "What?" he asked pleasantly.

"We talked about that before we came to see you," Gail replied. "Cas said that he could just wave his hand and give them all that stuff, and more. Of course he could. But, look at Dejuan, as an example. Look at how good it makes him feel to be giving to the little kids in the village. Look at you, and how touched and happy you obviously are to be helping those dance kids. And I bet you that all the people that give to your foundation feel the same way, too. So, I've dubbed that feeling 'the Halo Effect'. Patent pending." She smiled, and the actor smiled back.

"You've got me, there," he said, nodding slowly. "OK, I'll tell you what. We've got three months till the Christmas season. I'm going to wait a few weeks to avoid oversaturation, and then I'll see if I can get the rest of the cast involved for a Christmas drive. I can't imagine we wouldn't be able to raise a sizeable amount, but just in case everyone has donor fatigue, we'll top it up ourselves. Then we can all feel like the two of you must feel, every day."

Cas smiled ruefully. "Well, some days more than others," he said, taking Gail's hand and giving it a squeeze. He looked at his wife. She had impressed him with the articulate way she had voiced their viewpoint on giving to others.

"You know, I've never been a terribly religious person; at least, not as far as organized religion goes," the actor said now, "but I do consider myself a spiritual person, in my own way. But now that I know about the two of you, it gives me hope for the future, and for my kids' future." Then his lips twitched as he looked at Cas. "But I hope you won't hold some of my youthful indiscretions against me, when my time comes."

Cas's smile turned genuine. "Certainly not. After all, none of mine have prevented me from achieving the High Office. And the way you are conducting yourself now, you may well be vying for my job by the time you get there."

The actor burst out laughing. "Thanks, Cas, but I think I'll settle for being one of your minions. By the time I get there, I'll be looking forward to putting my feet up on the nearest cloud and relaxing. Hopefully, I'll have earned a bit of a rest by then."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the trailer door, and a second later, the door opened slowly. "Are you decent?" the actress who played Gail called out.

"Very rarely," the actor quipped, prompting a laugh from Gail.

The actress came up the stairs into the trailer, carrying an open laptop. "Oh, har, har. You're a riot," she said to him. Then she noticed Cas and Gail. "Oh, hi. Sorry to interrupt."

"That's okay, we were just chatting," Gail said. She was still bemused by how similar the actress's personality was to her own.

"You've gotta look at this," the actress said, bringing the laptop over to the coffee table. "It's disgusting." She plunked the computer down, and they all gathered around to look.

The screen looked blank to Gail. "Ummm...what are we supposed to be looking at?" she asked the actress.

"Just wait," her film counterpart said.

A moment or two later, a vehicle came into view, shining its headlights into the jungle. Four men alit from the jeep, holding shotguns. They walked over to a clearing, where the humans and the Angels who were watching the footage saw the outlines of several large animals, lying on the ground.

"Poachers," the actress fumed. "One of the wildlife sanctuary's cameras caught this. This is what these guys do. They send one of the more junior, expendable guys to go to the watering hole first, and when they see a rhino or two there, they shoot tranquilizer darts into it. Then they sneak back at dusk, once the WPA workers have left, to kill the rhinos and remove their horns. The WPA tries to catch these bastards, but they can't be everywhere at once. This is the kind of thing I'm trying to do something about. But even if we give the WPA money, that'll give them more resources, but it won't give these poacher guys the kick in the ass they so obviously need."

Gail sat back on the couch, thinking about that. An idea was forming in her mind now as the actress elbowed her movie husband. "Oh, by the way, I saw another Tweet that called you an 'attention-seeker', because you've been posting all this stuff on your foundation."

The actor rolled his eyes. "So what else is new? You're still new here. You'll learn not to look, after a while."

"That makes me so mad," the actress said, clenching her teeth. "I don't understand why people would say things like that about you. What the hell is their problem? I've never met anyone who's made more of an impact on humanity than you have. Those haters need to just shut their faces. Maybe if they did less of what they're doing, and more of what you're doing, this world would be a better place."

The actor smiled. "Isn't it sweet how she sticks up for me?" he said to Cas and Gail, putting his arm around his movie wife's shoulders.

She closed the laptop with a bang. "And they called ME a whore!" she said bluntly.

Gail burst out laughing. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it," she said. "That just sounds too familiar. Believe me, you get used to it, after a while. Of course, that doesn't make it right. But, why are they calling you that?"

The actress frowned. "Because there's a very vocal group that doesn't want Cas to have a wife, or even a girlfriend, if you catch my drift. And then, there are those girls who are just jealous. They should get a life. I mean, he's married, with kids. But these people don't seem to care."

Gail nodded, rolling her eyes. She could just imagine. "Well, don't you give any of that a second thought," she told the woman. "I think you two are adorable together, and so will lots of other people. I can't wait for the movie to come out. Come on, sweetie. Let's let these guys get back to work." She took Cas's hand, and they rose from the couch. "Oh, and don't worry about those poachers too much," Gail added with a grin. "I have the feeling that karma's going to bite those guys in the ass, sooner rather than later." She winked at the actor who played Cas, and he smiled. Then she and Cas exited the trailer.

Once they were outside, Cas looked at her. "What do you have in mind?"

Gail told him, and Cas thought about it for a moment. "Come on, Cas," Gail cajoled. "They need some kind of deterrent. I'm not saying we have to harm them, necessarily, but let's just put the fear of...well, YOU, in them. Then maybe they'll think twice."

Cas had to admit that a large part of him was in favour of the idea. Frankly, he really did not care if the poachers were harmed, or not. He was merely considering whether there could be any danger posed to Gail if they went ahead with her plan. Angel or not, she had been mauled by a wild animal before, hadn't she?

"I'll tell you what," he said to her. "Let me ask Sam and Dean if they want to go with us. This is one instance when I think it couldn't hurt to have the weaponry that they brought. I don't dare use my Godly power in the presence of humans, and even if I employed Holy fire, the animals in the vicinity would be vapourized instantly. Which would more or less defeat the purpose of saving the rhinos," Cas added dryly.

"OK, Cas. Sounds good," Gail said, giving his hand a squeeze, and the Angels went off in search of the brothers.

While Cas and Gail had been talking to their actor counterparts, Dean and Nicole were slowly getting out of bed in her trailer. She was due back on set in 10 minutes to supervise her staff, and they had covered for her for as long as they possibly could.

Nicole was sitting on the edge of the bed putting her socks on, and Dean grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back onto the bed to lay down beside him. He'd managed to put his boxers on, but that was all.

"Come on, Dean. I have to get back," she said to him.

"You're the boss, aren't you?" he said, kissing her neck. "So what if you're a couple of minutes late?"

She held his head, trailing her hands down to his shoulders, and then to his back. My God, he was muscular. They'd had a delightful reunion. Now that she had a trailer of her own, they'd actually been able to make love in a bed, for a change. Things had gotten a little hot when they'd first gotten here, and then they had gotten a little sweaty, and when they were done, her bra had somewhat inexplicably ended up hanging from the light sconce by the door. They'd had a good laugh about that once they'd gotten their breath back.

Dean kissed her, and Nicole kissed him back, enjoying the feel of the muscles in his arms when they tightened around her. But then, when his hands started to wander, she reluctantly pulled out of the embrace.

Dean gave up. He knew she had to get back to work; he'd just been enjoying being here with her like this. When they had first gotten to Nicole's trailer, Dean had been conscious of not wanting to just jump on his girlfriend right away. She meant more to him than just a romp in the hay. But once Nicole had closed the door, SHE had grabbed HIM, and hey, he was only human.

Nicole had been aware that they only had a short time, and she hadn't wanted to waste it talking. They talked occasionally via Skype, and even more occasionally on the phone. Once the filming wrapped once and for all, she was going to suggest that she and Dean get away somewhere for a few days, just the two of them, and then they could spend some quality time together, both in and out of bed. But, for right now, her idea of quality time involved the both of them with their clothes off.

So they had made hot, passionate love once, and then they had caught their breath and taken it more slowly the second time. Dean was apparently looking for Round 3 now, but Nicole figured she'd better not chance it. So she got all the way out of the bed and dressed hurriedly, before she could be tempted to change her mind.

Dean was still in the bed with just his shorts on, hoping to charm her into reconsidering, when there was a knock at the trailer door.

A young makeup assistant named Nelson barged in a moment later, without waiting for an invitation. "Hey, Nic, I was wondering if..."

Nelson stopped short, gaping at the two of them. "What the hell?" he exclaimed. "What's wrong with you, Nicole? He's a married man, with young kids!"

Nicole rolled her eyes. "Look again, genius."

Nelson scrutinized Dean's face more closely. Then his eyes wandered down Dean's body, prompting the elder Winchester to primly pull the covers up to his chin as Nicole tried not to laugh.

"Oh. Sorry, man," Nelson said after a minute. "I thought you were - "

"Yeah, I know," Dean said, sighing. "But I'm not."

"Right." Nelson just stood there, staring, as Nicole folded her arms in front of her, shaking her head slowly. Nelson wasn't the sharpest guy in the world, but he was a whiz with wounds, and they were going to be needing his services a lot in the next few days, as they filmed the climactic battle scene. "Was there anything you wanted, Nelson?" Nicole asked the young assistant, as patiently as she could.

"I just came here to let you know that they're setting up," he replied.

"OK, OK, I can read a watch," she said irritably. "I'll see you there."

Eventually, Nelson exited the trailer, and Nicole smiled at Dean apologetically. "Sorry, Prudence. You can come out now," she said teasingly. "Next time, I'll remember to lock the door."

Dean came out from behind the covers and started to dress. "Hey, it could have been worse. He could have come in about fifteen minutes ago," he said, smirking.

Nicole thought about that for a second, and then she shivered, remembering the position that Dean had had her in right about then. Yikes. She'd better lock the door next time, for sure. Once you'd seen your boss in that kind of a compromising position, you would never be able to look at them the same way again.

Dean came around the bed to where she was standing and gave her a long, lingering kiss. Then he shrugged on his shirt and they left the trailer.

Cas sent out The Eye when dusk fell, and sure enough, he spotted two truckloads of poachers entering a wildlife sanctuary, cutting the lock on the chain-link fence to gain access. He told the others what he was seeing.

Sam and Dean had their bags full of weapons slung over their shoulders, and Gail had her blade out. "Ready?" Cas asked them.

"Yeah, Cas, let's go," Dean said impatiently. Then he smirked. "At least this time, we know you're not gonna pop us into a tsunami."

"Yes, but don't take these men lightly, Dean," Cas said sternly. "They have automatic weapons, and obviously, they have no morals."

Gail smiled grimly. "Don't worry; as soon as you find me some animals, they're going to be way too distracted to take potshots at us."

Cas frowned. While he approved of Gail's plan in principle, when it came to wild animals and men with submachine guns, one could never be sure. "All right. So we're in agreement," he said to the trio. "We're going to wait until they get out of the vehicles and approach the rhinos."

Sam restrained himself from rolling his eyes, but just barely. Cas wanted to wait and see if two jeeploads of guys who'd cut a chainlink fence at a wildlife sanctuary at night were poachers? Who the hell did he think they were? Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom?

"Then, Gail will call on a few lions I have spotted in the area to attack the men," Cas continued. "I will use my powers to disable their weapons, and then tame the lions, before they get the opportunity to kill the poachers. We want the men left alive. Then Gail and I will modify their memories and teleport them back to the city, to tell their story to their cohorts. Word will spread. We're hoping this incident will serve as a deterrent to future expeditions."

"What do you need us for, then?" Sam asked their friend.

"I would like you to take a video of these men, one that shows their faces," Cas responded. "Continue filming when the lions attack. Then you will post the video on social media, with a message that this is the fate that awaits anyone who attempts to poach any animal."

"How about me?" Dean grumbled. "What am I supposed to be doing, in the meantime?"

"I want you to have your most powerful gun at the ready," Cas said to him. "If anything goes wrong, anything at all, I will need you to act swiftly. Can you do that for me, Dean?" Cas nodded towards Gail, and Dean understood. He remembered when Gail had been attacked by that panther at the Secret Garden, too.

"I can do that, Cas," Dean said, his jaw set. Then Cas winked them all away.

They were all sitting around in the Craft Services tent on the movie set about an hour later, laughing at the video of the poachers that Sam had posted online. They had shown it to the principal actors on the film, and one by one, they had exited the tent, laughing and chattering excitedly. It was nearly nighttime now, but Richard had kept them late because he was toying with the idea of having the battle occur at night, rather than early in the morning, thinking it might look more dramatic. So they were going to shoot both versions, and then decide which one to use when they were finished.

The last actors to exit the tent had been the man and woman who played Cas and Gail. The actress had been over the moon at the sight of the terrified poachers being set upon by lions, dropping their guns and running back to their jeeps. Cas had touched his finger to Sam's cell phone before the video was posted, editing out the part where Gail had stood in front of the jeeps just behind the poachers with her blade aloft, commanding the lions to attack. Also edited out was what happened a couple of minutes later, when the lions suddenly laid down and went to sleep, as the poachers' minds were being modified.

"Did you have something to do with this?" the actress asked Cas, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Why would you think that we had anything to do with it?" he'd answered evasively.

She'd continued to look at him for a moment longer, and then she poked her movie husband. "Let's go." He had looked over her head at Cas and Gail, winked at them, and then followed her out of the tent.

The four of them sat there, grinning at each other. "You know what? I really like her," Gail said, staring after the actress.

"Boy, talk about typecasting, though," Sam said to her. "She orders him around too, like - "

"I'd be very careful about finishing that sentence, if I were you," Gail said, raising an eyebrow to him. "We're still in Africa, you know. I could probably go outside right now and rustle up another couple of lions."

Dean smirked. "You know, I think that's the first time we've ever had a plan of ours work out the way it was supposed to."

Cas smiled absently. For the most part, Dean was right. There had been a moment when Cas had feared that everything was going to fall apart, though. He looked at Gail now. She had been so brave, holding her ground while the poachers had scrambled to board their vehicles and escape. As each man approached her, she had grabbed him, modifying his memory on the fly. Her command of her powers had vastly improved, even over the past couple of years. Cas had marvelled at that thought, as he'd looked at her admiringly. But in his moment of distraction, one of the lions had almost broken free. Dean had been prepared to shoot the beast, but luckily, Cas had been able to seize the lion just before it bounded over to where Gail and the poachers were. It would have been a failed mission if they had gone there to save the rhinos only to end up having to kill a lion or two. But the potential crisis had been averted, and the poachers had been thwarted. Now, thanks to the Angels' modifications, those poachers would spread the word in their dubious circles that the animals in the sanctuary had finally lost it, and were turning on the humans who dared venture in there at night. Sure, they could bring their tranquilizer guns, but did they know how many animals there were out there? The man who had led most of the poaching expeditions was now telling the people he'd been providing the horns to that life was too short. He and his men were out.

Dean yawned and stretched. "Well, I'm gonna go watch them kill me again. And again, and again. Let's go, you guys."

Cas glanced at Gail. "You two go on ahead," he said to the brothers. "We'll see you at the hotel in the morning."

Sam and Dean left the tent as Gail looked at Cas quizzically. "I hope you don't mind," he said to her. "I was hoping that you would do me the honour of spending the night with me under the stars."

Gail nodded slowly, in comprehension. She knew that Cas liked to do that sometimes. It reminded him of the time when he was Abel, a simple shepherd tending his flock in solitude. But now, he liked to include her on those types of excursions, and she was very happy about that. The last time he had taken her out to the desert at night and shown her all the stars, and it had been a magical experience. "Sure, Cas. I would love to," she told him.

Suddenly, he winked them out to the desert. He smiled. "I know you enjoy being chilly, but we'll need this, I assure you." A down-filled sleeping bag appeared, and Cas got in. "Please, come here," he said, extending his hand to her. She took it, laying down with him. Cas waved his finger, and the sleeping bag zipped itself up. He put his arms around her, cuddling her. Gail realized that it was actually getting quite cool now that the sun was in the process of setting on the horizon. What a spectacular sight that was. The two of them watched wordlessly as the yellow sun turned orange and then red, and sank slowly behind a sand dune off in the distance. The sky was painted with a multitude of vivid colours for a few minutes before everything faded to black. Then the stars started to become visible by the dozen, until the sky was filled with them.

Gail gasped, and Cas's arms tightened briefly around her. "I know, my love," he said softly in her ear. "It never ceases to amaze me, too. No matter how many nights I was out here, I would always marvel at the sunset, and then the emergence of the stars. That was my favourite thing. Well, that, and the dawn of a new day. So fresh. So full of promise. Our Father had appeared to me and told me to have faith. That there was a reason for everything, although everything did not always appear to have a reason. He said that I would one day have a mate, someone who I could lavish all my love and devotion on. I had so much love to give. That was probably why I sacrificed one of the finest sheep in my flock to Him, to show my eternal love. But that backfired on me. The first of many bad decisions to come, I suppose. For it was that act of love and devotion that caused Cain to rise up and murder me, out of jealousy. I truly meant no harm, Gail. I really didn't. But I admit that I became angry when my brother confronted me about it. Just because he was the elder one, did that mean that he was the only one who had the right to express love to our Father? Did God not create me, too? But my words just enraged him further, and...well, you know how that turned out."

Gail was silent for a moment. Wow. No matter how many times she heard that story, it never failed to sicken her. Now, it was her arms that tightened around him. She could hear the hurt and bewilderment in his voice. And, really, who could blame him? Who wouldn't have felt that way?

"You did nothing wrong, sweetie," she told him firmly. "Nothing at all. I don't think you made a bad decision. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to give those you love your best, whatever that may be. That just shows what a beautiful person you are. It was your brother who had the problem. I think when God made Crowley, He left something very important out of him. But then, by the time our Father got to you, He got the recipe just right."

Cas smiled gently. "Thank you, my love."

She brought one of his hands to her lips and kissed it. "Boy, that story serves as a good reminder, though," she said lightly. "Things could always be worse. So I guess the next time Frank tells a couple of bad jokes, I should give him a break."

Cas laughed softly. Then, after a moment's silence, he said, "When we get back, we'll begin the annulment process with the first step."

"That's usually where things begin," Gail quipped. "What's the first step, Cas?"

"We have to confront the party who has wronged us," he responded.

She was puzzled. "What does that mean?"

Cas frowned now. "Usually, it means, the individual who has torn the marriage asunder. In ancient times, that meant the man who had been trifling with the married woman. Well, that was, if the husband didn't just kill the man outright, of course." Was that a smile she heard in his voice now? "But, in our case, as fidelity is not the issue," he continued, "we will have to confront the person who nullified our marriage."

Gail's heart sank. "Patricia."

Cas nodded. "Yes. Patricia."

Gail sighed. Great. Oh, well. It wasn't nearly as bad as what Gail had been fearing. But Cas had said that there were five steps, hadn't he? Somewhere in those five steps was a land mine, she was sure of it. But she might as well dip her toes into the freezing cold waters of uncertainty first, before diving in over her head. "OK, Cas," she said. "But let's not talk about her right now. It's way too beautiful and serene out here for that. Tell me what it was like, back then."

"What is there to tell?" he said mildly. "You know all there is to know. My days were simple and solitary. My flock was my company. You know, in a strange way, I would like to see a return to those days. Not just for me, but for everyone. There is so much stress in the world now. So much hate. There are any number of devices that do any number of things, that are designed to make our lives easier. And sometimes, they do. I myself use a cell phone now, because that makes it easier to communicate with our human family and friends. But people also use cell phones to send messages of bullying and hate, and they can also be employed to detonate bombs. Planes can transport people around the globe in the blink of an eye, but they can also be hijacked and flown into buildings, killing thousands of people whose only crime was to show up for work that morning. Hate crimes are being perpetrated all over the world, every day, and many of them are done in Father's name. Now I believe I can understand why He went away. It becomes too much to bear, sometimes."

Tears prickled at Gail's eyes. Cas may have a tough-as-nails exterior at times, but she knew how soft his heart was. His main problem was that he felt too much of whatever emotion he was feeling at the time. Cas was an all-in kind of guy, whether it be love, or anger, or any other kind of emotion that took him over at that particular moment.

Suddenly, Cas said, "If I had the Book of Life, I would be severely tempted to use it to go back to the time of the Beginning, and right a lot of wrongs. But then, I wonder if that itself would be wrong. What would give me the right to do that? What is good for me may not be good for someone else. Why should my needs, or my opinions, take precedence over theirs? That is why I go away sometimes, or I fall silent. I wrestle with those kinds of questions, especially now that I am God."

Cas stretched out his arm, pointing to the sky. "I could reach up there right now and retrieve one of those shiny, twinkling stars for you. Or the moon, or a whole galaxy. Anything you asked, I would give to you. But then, when I brought it down here, it would be a giant, cold lump of rock, and it wouldn't twinkle. Then you wouldn't want it at all. Sometimes things appear better than they truly are, if you're viewing them from farther away. And sometimes, what we think we want is miles away from what we should have."

"What are you getting at, Cas?" Gail asked him warily.

Cas gave her a squeeze. "Nothing, my darling," he said softly. "I'm just babbling, I suppose. Would you let me make love to you?"

"I'd like that," she replied, smiling. It was funny how he could be aggressive sometimes, but so shy at others. But the way he had been speaking now had been so strange. Almost as if he were trying to give her the moral of a story without actually giving her the story. But that was just the way Cas was, sometimes. It was supposed to be for better or for worse, after all, and they weren't annulled yet, were they? She turned around so that she was facing him and kissed him on his mouth. "I love you, Cas."

"I love you too, my darling," he answered, returning her kiss. "I always have, and I always will." And I pray you will always feel the same about me, he thought. But he didn't want to say it out loud and ruin a very romantic evening, so he merely kissed her again.

Seventh Movement - The Last Fight

Ibrahim called Cas first thing in the morning, as soon as the sun had risen all the way into the sky.

The Angels were still cuddling in the sleeping bag. They'd stayed there all night, looking at the stars and talking. Cas had made love to her, but only the one time. His main goal had been to remind his wife how important she and their bond were to him. Lovemaking was wonderful, and it was an extremely intimate bond between two people. But it was just as important to Cas to remind Gail that there was a lot more to them as a couple than just the physical demonstration of their love. The Father had promised her to Abel at the very Beginning. Not Gabriel, not Sam Winchester. Him. Cas knew that Gail was puzzled by his reticence in not telling her the steps of the annulment process. He'd finally told her about the first step last night, and he could sense how relieved she'd been to hear what it was. It would not be pleasant for them to confront Patricia, but at least it would not be that difficult. Not like the other things.

Cas's cell phone rang, just at the point where he'd been about to suggest that they go to the hotel in Madagascar where Sam and Dean had stayed overnight, and collect them. He fumbled in his pocket for the phone.

"Castiel?" It was Ibrahim, Cas noted with surprise. "I need to see you."

"Why?" Cas asked. "What's going on?"

"A red-haired woman came to see me," Ibrahim lied to Cas. He looked up at Raguel, who was watching him coolly, brandishing the blade. He'd already told the curator to stick to the script, or else. Ibrahim continued, "She had some ancient-looking documents in her satchel. I only caught a glimpse, but I think those might have been the missing codices. She said she wants to hand them over to you."

"To me?" Cas said, puzzled. "Why should she want to do that?" Gail was looking at Cas warily now. Rowena had to be kidding with this. Cas had put his phone on Speaker, so that they could both listen. Gail was shaking her head, but Cas put his hand up.

"Arrange the meeting," Cas said to Ibrahim. "Then call me back." He hung up abruptly.

"You can't be serious," Gail said to him now. "This thing's got 'trap' written all over it, in neon letters."

Cas was frowning. "Wasn't the purpose of coming here in the first place to confront Raguel? If she is setting the trap for him, then that is where he will be."

The fear was gnawing at Gail's stomach now. "Yeah, but..." Cas was right, but, still..."What about Crowley? How do you think he factors into this?" she asked her husband.

Cas thought for a moment, and then he shrugged. "It doesn't really matter," he said. "Even if he has decided to align himself with Raguel, which I seriously doubt, Crowley cannot kill me while I am God. Besides," Cas continued with a grim smile, "if his mother is there, he will be distracted by her presence."

"Why do you doubt that Crowley has aligned himself with Raguel?" Gail asked Cas incisively. "Wouldn't it benefit him to gang up with an Archangel who means you harm?"

Cas nodded. "Normally, you would be quite right. But remember, Raguel wanted the Holy War, and Crowley does not. Raguel has Michael's signet ring. If he puts that ring on his finger while Crowley and I are both present, if he chooses to, he can compel us to declare war on each other."

"What?!" Gail exclaimed. "You never told me that! Okay, well, that settles it. You're definitely not going."

"I have to," Cas insisted stubbornly. "If there's even a chance that I can obtain those codices, and the Codex for them...you don't know what that could mean, Gail."

"I don't care, Cas," she insisted. "I don't care what's in those things. It could be the Colonel's secret recipe, or how they get the caramel in that chocolate bar, for all I care. No. It's not worth the risk, Cas. It's not."

Cas's jaw was set. "But that's just it, Gail. It is. That's The Word. Don't you see? It's Father's journal. Well, what's left of it, anyway. All of His hopes, and desires, and goals. It's all there, clearly explained."

Gail was agitated now. "Look, Cas, I do understand. You think I don't, but I do. You think if you get your hands on those Gospels, they'll finally help you to make sense of everything that God has done. His master plan. Why He claims to love humans so much, yet allows all that human suffering. Why He just up and deserted Heaven that first time, without so much as a 'see you around'. Why He's put you through every torture and test there is, and why He never seems to be around whenever you need Him the most. You want to know if there's anything in there that will prove to you, once and for all, that He loves you, even a fraction of how much you love Him."

A tear squeezed out of Cas's eye and dribbled down his cheek. This was why Gail was his soulmate. His person. Everything that she had just said was absolutely, unequivocally, one hundred percent true. Castiel could go around claiming the Gospels were important religious artifacts that must be recovered and preserved for posterity all he wanted, but Cas just wanted to know that he was important to his Father. That he was loved by Him, or even that he mattered to Him at all.

Cas reached out and pulled Gail into his arms, trying to compose himself. She saw inside Cas, and she still loved him, anyway. He held her wordlessly for a minute, and then his cell phone rang again. It was Ibrahim, calling to advise him of the meeting.

And that was when the argument began in earnest.

"I want you to go to Madagascar, get Sam and Dean, and take them back home. You can wait for me there, if you want, or in Heaven," Cas instructed Gail, who smiled without any humour.

"You're so cute when you're delusional," she said tartly. "I'm going to Madagascar, all right, to bring them to the museum. Just like we planned."

"I don't want you there," Cas said bluntly. "I don't need any of you to be there. You'll only serve as a distraction to me. It'll be too difficult for me to concentrate if I have to worry about your safety."

That last part gave Gail pause for a moment. But then, she shook her head. "Nice try. You almost had me, there. No, Cas. I'm not letting you go there all by yourself. No way."

Cas was fuming. "You have to be the most stubborn woman in the known universe," he said to her.

Gail shrugged. "Maybe so. Maybe I am. In any event, I'll see you at the museum, sweetie." Then she popped herself away, leaving an extremely frustrated Cas behind. She really did know him very well. Perhaps all too well. He dropped the Enochian restraints he'd been holding behind his back on the sand. He'd been just about to overpower her and use them on her when she had disappeared. He cursed softly.

Then he had another idea. Cas pulled out his cell phone and called Ibrahim, changing the location of the meeting.

"What do you mean, they're not here?" Gail shouted at Ibrahim.

He looked at her coolly. "Just what I said. They are not here."

"Then where are they?" Sam asked, bewildered.

"I do not know," Ibrahim told the three of them. "They didn't tell me where they were going."

Dean was livid. He dropped the bag of weapons on Ibrahim's desk, unzipped the bag, and showed the contents to the curator. "Listen, you son of a bitch. I've been wanting to use these things on somebody for the past 2 days, and I'm thinking it might as well be you."

"Dean..." Sam cautioned, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder, but Dean shook him off. "No, Sam. If this guy knows anything, he's gonna tell us. The longer Cas is gone, the more worried I am. We need to find him, now."

Suddenly, Gail smacked herself on the forehead. "Boy, am I stupid!" she exclaimed. "Hold him down, you guys."

Dean grabbed one of Ibrahim's arms right away. Sam flashed Gail a curious glance, but he grabbed the man's other arm, helping Dean to hold him in place.

"What are you going to do to me?" Ibrahim asked in a quavering voice.

"Something I should have thought of when we first got here," Gail replied. She moved forward and put her hand on his head. Seconds later, she had her answer. She removed her hand. "They're in the field behind the royal palace," she told the brothers. "Let's go."

"Why would you go to the trouble of creating a ruse for me to meet with you?" Cas was asking Raguel now.

The Archangel shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought you might fall for it. The reports are that you've lost your edge, now that you've been consorting with humans for so long, and taken a wife. Where is she, by the way? I was looking forward to making her acquaintance."

"Never mind about her," Cas said in his quiet voice. "Do you have the codices, and the Codex? And, where did you get the overleaf from the Book of Life?"

Raguel was surprised for a moment, but then he made a small bow. "Very impressive, Castiel. How did you know?" he asked his Brother.

"Simple deduction," Cas said. "The only thing that I wondered was why you did not take over Heaven from Lucifer."

"Oh, I was just biding my time," Raguel said casually. Then he smiled slyly. "Are you sure that was the ONLY thing that surprised you?"

Cas frowned deeply. "All right. Fine. Why did my wife not exist in your reality?"

Raguel continued to smile that strange smile. "Cause and effect, Castiel. Have you ever heard of the domino theory?"

"Of course I have," Cas snapped. But now, his mind was working furiously. Raguel was telling him that because of one thing that was different in Raguel's reality, just one thing, Gail had never come into being.

"I can see the wheels turning in your head," Raguel remarked. "Perhaps the King of Hell's approach would be appropriate in this instance. How much would it be worth to you to find out? The answer will truly shock you."

Cas's blood was boiling now. "Are you honestly going to stand there and try to blackmail me? Where IS Crowley, anyway? He obviously didn't provide you with the translations you sought."

"Oh, but he will," Raguel assured Cas. "However, I'm talking to you right now." He reached into his pocket and took out the ring. "Do you know what this is?"

"Yes, of course I do," Cas replied, tight-lipped. "Well, get to it, then. Put it on, and let us see whose power is greater."

"I cannot," Raguel stated.

Cas's eyebrows shot up, and he started to smile. "You cannot? Really? Well, isn't that a shame. Then toss it away, and prepare to fight."

"It won't allow me to wear it, because I'm not supposed to wear it," Raguel said, lifting his eyes to Cas. "You are."

Gail and the Winchesters appeared in the field just in time to see Cas, staring at Raguel. "No," he said firmly. "I will not do it."

"You seem to be under the impression that you have a choice," Raguel said with sour amusement. "But as you can plainly see, the ring thinks otherwise." He was holding it in the palm of his open hand. It wriggled there for a moment and then propelled itself forward, towards Cas's face. He put his hand up reflexively, and the ring attached itself onto his finger.

"There," Raguel said smugly. "Just as I suspected. A perfect fit."

Dean came towards Cas. "Cas, what the hell is going on here?" he asked his friend. "Why aren't you laying that guy out?"

"As long as he had the ring in his possession, I could not," Cas said dazedly, looking at the ring on his hand. Then he smiled wolfishly. "But I can, now." He extended his arms towards Raguel. "Shield your eyes," Cas warned the trio. He sent the white beams of light out at Raguel, giving the Archangel both barrels. Nothing. Cas tried again, with the same result.

"Do you think I am stupid?" Raguel said scornfully. "I have both the protections of Heaven and Hell on me, right now. And now that you have that ring on your finger, I can compel you to do anything I want."

Cas's heart sank. This was what he had been most afraid of. He tried to twist the ring off his finger, but of course, it wouldn't come off.

"Cas? What's he talking about?" Gail asked him nervously. She could see the panicked look on her husband's face, as he tried to work the ring off his finger. He'd known this could happen, yet somehow, he had let it, anyway. He had tried to keep his loved ones away, yet here they were.

"Cas..." Sam started to say, but Cas looked at him, wide-eyed. "Get a Demon knife from your bag," Cas said to Sam in a strangled voice. "Quickly."

"What? Why?" Sam asked, bewildered.

Cas held up his hand, where the ring was glowing an angry red now. "Because this has to come off, immediately!" he said, raising his voice. "Because I can't be held responsible for what I'll do, if it does not!"

They stared at him. "Go!" Cas yelled. "Now!"

Gail ran up to her husband, horrified. He wasn't actually ordering Sam to cut off his finger, was he? "Cas! What the hell is going on?!" she exclaimed.

"So this is your lovely wife?" Raguel said calmly. "Repel her."

Cas's other arm shot out and the white light issued from his fingertips. Gail went flying across the field, landing with a hard thud on the ground. The wind was knocked out of her, and she lay there for a moment. But then she picked herself up and started running back towards where the men stood.

"Now, do you see?" Cas shouted at Sam. "Quickly, before it's too late!"

But as Sam rushed towards Cas with the knife in his hand, Raguel said, "Kill him."

"No," Cas said through gritted teeth. "I will not."

"Yes, you will," Raguel said smugly. "Just give our Brother's ring a moment longer to sink into your flesh, and then, you'll be just like him. First, the Winchesters, and then your little wife. And then we're going to have that Holy War you refused to wage. I"M going to have it. I'm going to have an army of souls to do my bidding, and we're finally going to accomplish what our Father was too much of a coward to attempt: The Cleansing."

"Do you ever just stop and listen to yourself talk?" Gabriel said, suddenly appearing beside Cas. "You sound like the most arrogant dick in the universe," Gabe added, sneering at Raguel. "And that's a universe that includes me."

"You were foolish to come here," Raguel said to him. "The only thing you can do here is die."

"Then I'll die trying to help my Brother," Gabriel said bravely. He looked at Dean. "Because that's what brothers do."

Cas was really wrestling with himself now. The ring's poison had started to seep into him, and Lucifer and Michael were talking in his ear. The Holy War was necessary, and it would be good. Didn't Castiel want to go into that weapons room in Heaven, take the biggest sword there, and cut off Crowley's head with it? Wouldn't that be sweet? Then he could descend into Hell and carve up every filthy Demon there, wearing his Holy white robes, killing them all in the name of the Father. Weren't Xavier, Alexander and Lanister still there, among many others whose dubious acquaintance Castiel had made over the centuries? Wasn't a little payback in order there? And when he was done there, Cas could ride unto the Earth on a winged horse with an army of Angels by his side, those who had stood with him, and slay the third part of man, the ones who had evil thoughts and evil intentions. Castiel could finally be a real hero, the Biblical hero that everybody always hoped he could be. The hero that Heaven needed him to be. The protector of Angels. The arbiter of Sin. And the Angels would have no choice but to obey his word. If you were not with him, you were against him.

"Kill the humans," Raguel instructed Cas now. "They are nothing but impediments to our goals. You know that to be true."

"Yes, I do," Cas intoned. He pulled the blade out of his pocket. Then he flicked his finger, and the knife flew out of Sam's hand. Raguel smiled that ugly smile of his. He raised his hands, freezing Sam and Dean on the spot.

"Stop it, Cas. Fight it. This is not you," Gail urged. She put her hand on her husband's arm. "Please, Cas," she pleaded.

He turned his head slowly, looking down at her. Gail. His wife. His soulmate, in every sense of the term. She was right. He had to fight the ring's influence. His grip on his Angel blade loosened.

"She holds you back," Raguel said, raising his voice. "She has made you soft, and weak. She would have you spare Crowley. Think about it, Castiel. Crowley wasn't the ruler of Hell in my reality, Abbadon was. In fact, he was nowhere to be seen, was he? Just like your wife. Now, I wonder why that would be?"

Cas's eyes turned to Raguel. "What are you talking about?" he said angrily. "What does one thing have to do with the other?"

"Cause and effect," Raguel replied coolly. "But there will be plenty of time to talk about that on the battlefield, if you are still interested by then. Now, kill them. In fact, you can start with your wife."

Cas turned back to Gail, and his knife hand started to raise. "No," he whimpered. "Please. Don't."

Gail stared at him. He wasn't really going to stab her, was he? But as she looked in his eyes, she saw a tinge of purple in the blue. "No," Cas said again, but the blade was still moving towards her.

"Oh, hell, no," Gabriel said. "Not on my watch." He snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, Gail and the Winchesters were standing in the library area of the bunker. She hadn't been prepared for that move of Gabriel's; none of them had. Gail stumbled, and Gabriel caught her by the elbow. She looked up at him, furious. "What have you done?" she asked the Archangel.

"Uh...saved all your lives," he said sarcastically. "And, you're welcome."

"You left Cas alone there, with him!" she shouted at him.

"Cas was gonna kill you all!" Gabe shouted back.

"No, he wasn't," Gail protested. "He would never do that." But her tone was more subdued now. His eyes had been turning purple.

"You keep telling yourself that, Kitten," Gabriel said, raising his voice. "But, you know I'm right. That ring will turn him into a whole other kind of person, one you don't want to be around."

"What do we do now?" Dean fumed.

"Do? There's nothing we CAN do," Gabriel said bluntly. "Bend over and pucker up, because once he starts that Holy War, you can kiss your asses goodbye."

"No! I won't accept that! Not after all we've been through to avoid that stupid Holy War!" Gail exclaimed, frustrated.

"He's not gonna leave us a choice, Gail," Gabriel said grimly. "We have only two choices, here. Toe his line, or die."

Gail was wild with panic now. "Then I guess I'll die!" she shouted, and then, she winked out.

"Great," Dean growled. "Freakin' great."

Gail popped herself back over to the field. She had to do something. Raguel was approaching Cas slowly now. "We can rule it all, Castiel, you and I," he was saying. "There is no need for any animosity between us. We both want the same things. You have a warrior's blood coursing through your veins, and I am God's most Righteous. Together, we can eradicate all of the Sinners, and all of the evil they do. Do not worry about the humans. The deserving will ascend, to be our servants. God created the animals to serve man, and the humans to serve us. That's the natural order of things. Haven't you ever looked at the human race and felt disgust? They're dirty, filthy apes, insignificant piles of dung on the landscape. They tear down places of beauty to erect monuments to greed, and consumerism. Our Father built a Paradise here on Earth for us to enjoy, and they have reduced it to a stinking pile of garbage. We can wipe it all clean, and start again. Build the type of Paradise that our Father would have wanted. Don't you want that, Castiel?"

"Yes, I do," Cas said sincerely. "I truly do."

"And that 'Paradise' will be built on the backs of slaves, and the rivers and streams will consist of human blood," Gail said angrily.

Raguel threw her a baleful glare. "You should have just remained wherever it was that Gabriel took you," he said to her.

"I'm stubborn," she said coolly. "Apparently, you didn't get the memo." She walked slowly towards the men. "Please don't listen to him, Cas," she pleaded with her husband. "I don't care about that ring. You don't feel that way. I know you don't."

"He does, even though you and those humans have tried to persuade him otherwise," Raguel told her.

"Those who are not with us, are against us," Cas growled. "You need to decide if you are on the side of Righteousness. If not, you shall perish."

Gail stared at him, incredulous. She realized he was talking to her. What was she supposed to do? Fall on the ground and beg? If she thought it would do any good, she would do it. Still, she moved closer to her husband. He wouldn't hurt her. He would never hurt her.

As if reading her mind, Cas brandished the Angel blade. "Raguel is right. You should not have come back here," Cas said sternly. "If you will not obey me, I will have no choice but to kill you."

"Of course you have a choice," Gail said, coming ever closer. "You always have a choice. You were the first Angel to realize that. You always do the right thing, Cas. We look to you, for our example. Do the right thing now, Cas. Please."

She was standing right beside him now, looking into his eyes. They were still that weird mixture of blue and purple.

"I WILL do the right thing," Cas said, raising his blade hand. Gail flinched as Cas's arm came down. Then she screamed, as the blood began to flow.

"Take us back there," Dean demanded of Gabriel. "Now!"

"Slow your roll, flannel boy," Gabe said, raising his hand in a calming gesture. "Let me think, for a minute."

"You know Gail's there right now, facing down Raguel alone, right?" Sam yelled at him. "Not to mention a jacked-up Cas, who's not even in his right mind right now! What's wrong with you? We have to help her!"

"Don't you mean 'them'?" Gabriel said acidly. "Help THEM? I've got eyes, Gigantor."

Sam grabbed Gabriel by the shirt front. "He's gonna kill her, you useless piece of - "

Gabriel looked down at Gabriel's hand, raising his arm. But before he could zap Sam into another dimension, Dean shouldered his brother aside. "We're wasting time," he barked. "Are you gonna take us back there, or not?"

Gabriel lifted his head suddenly, looking towards the ceiling. "It's too late," he announced, in a hushed tone.

"I love you, more than anything, or anyone," Cas said to Gail. The tears were flowing down his cheeks as his knife hand trembled. The blood was dripping from the blade. "I always have, and I always will." His arm came down again, and more blood splattered as the blade found its mark. "I place you high above anyone else. Anything else. Including me. Goodbye, my love."

He stabbed himself once more, and the white light came out of his chest, eyes, and mouth. The blade fell from his hand and the ring melted off his finger as he fell to the ground, dead.

"He actually did that?" Gabriel said aloud, as if listening to something that no one else could hear. And in a manner of speaking, he was. He was listening to the sound of his Brother, dying.

"Gabriel? Gabriel!" Dean was shouting. "What? What did he do? Did he kill her?"

But now, Gail's screams were filling Gabriel's head, deafening him. He clapped his hands over his ears.

Gail fell on her knees, clutching at her husband. "Cas! No!" He was unresponsive. She shook him, slapping him across the face. "Cas! Stop it! Open your eyes!" she shrieked. She lay down with her head on his chest, getting his blood all over her face. But she didn't care. This was ridiculous. It was really smart of him to pretend to commit suicide to fool Raguel, but enough was enough. "Cas! Cas?" Then she started to wail, and then she started to scream hysterically. "Gabriel! Get back here! Fix this!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Gabriel's heart sank. No. Oh, no. It couldn't be. He disappeared from the bunker without another word, leaving two very scared Winchesters behind.

Gail rose from Cas's body, facing Raguel. She was shaking, from shock and rage. "You did this to him," she said to the Archangel, almost calmly. "You did this, and you're going to make it right."

Raguel was stunned. Castiel had actually killed himself, over this little slip of a thing? It was impossible to comprehend.

"Oh, no, Cas. What have you done?" Gabriel said softly. He knelt by Cas's body, taking his Brother's hand. A large part of Gabriel had thought that Cas was going to open his eyes any minute, and give Gabe a wink. He was only perpetrating a ruse, to fool Raguel. That had to be it.

But Cas was dead, well and truly dead, and Gail was advancing on a stunned Raguel with her blade drawn. As soon as Raguel got over his shock, he was gonna pulverize her. Gabriel couldn't let that happen. Cas would be heartbroken.

Gabriel picked Cas's blade up off the ground and brandished it, advancing on Raguel, who was taking out his own blade now and showing it to Gail. "Hey, dickbag!" Gabriel yelled at Raguel. "Pick on someone your own size, and weight class!" He extended his free hand and snapped his fingers, winking Gail behind him. He thought about sending her back to the bunker, but he knew she would just come right back, bringing those two idiots with her. Gabriel had a lot to answer for now, and he owed it to Cas to try and make sure his Brother didn't lose all of his loved ones here today, on foreign soil.

"You screwed with the wrong guy," Gabriel said, circling Raguel in a fight stance. "Come on, you coward. Let's go."

Raguel laughed harshly. "You're going to fight me? YOU?" he sneered. "How long has it been since you held a blade, exactly?"

"Doesn't matter. It's like riding a bike," Gabriel said casually. "I just lacked the right motivation, all that time. You should have stayed away, Raguel."

"No, it is you who should have stayed locked away, the prisoner of humans," Raguel said scornfully. "What can you do to me? You call yourself an Archangel?"

Gabriel snapped his fingers, and the morning sky suddenly turned dark. "Yeah, that's right, and don't you forget it, 'Brother'," he said, fixing Raguel with a glare. His eyes flashed bright, and his wings emerged from his back. Gail's mouth fell open. Wow. They were majestic. Bright white, with a streak of black ribboning them, almost like a racing stripe.

Gabriel advanced on Raguel. "You're not an Archangel," he said to Raguel, his voice heavy with contempt. "You're just some wanna-be, who used to sit at the kiddie table, begging for scraps. Dad told you that you could call yourself an Archangel, just to shut you up. But you're just a cowardly, bottom-feeding piece of shit, who didn't even have the cojones to pick up a blade and fight Castiel like a man." He extended his hand and gestured, and Raguel came rushing towards him. Gabriel grabbed him by his shirt front, pressing Cas's blade to Raguel's cheek. "I'm gonna enjoy this," he said through clenched teeth.

"You can't kill me. I have every protection," Raguel sniveled.

"Yeah?" Gabriel spat out the word. "Let's see how that works out for you." He raised his blade hand, and Raguel popped out from underneath him.

"That's what I thought," Gabriel said contemptuously, but then he let out a long breath.

Gail grabbed him from behind, spinning him around. "Were you really going to be able to kill him?" she demanded. Gabriel shook his head. "Oh, hell no, Kitten. He would have squashed me like a bug." He tapped his head. "All smoke and mirrors. If you believe it, chances are they'll believe it, too."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment. Under any other circumstances, they probably would have burst out laughing. But Gabriel looked at the blade in his hand, stained with Cas's blood, and he felt like throwing up.

Gail went back over to Cas's body and knelt by him, taking his hand and kissing it gently. "Well?" she said to Gabriel.

His heart sank. "Well...what?" he asked her, although he knew. Of course he knew. "You're not suggesting..." His throat closed up, and he tried again. "There's nothing I can do, Gail. You know that."

"No," she said in a clipped tone. "No. This cannot happen. I don't accept it. I won't allow it."

Gabriel stood there, feeling utterly helpless. She glared at him for another moment, and then, when she realized he had nothing more to say, she raised her head, looking up at the sky. "You're not going to just let this stand, are you?" she railed at God. "What is WRONG with you? This is your son, lying here! Your son, who loves you more than anything! All he ever wanted was for you to show him a little love in return. Instead, all you've ever done is put him through hell, time and time again. What is the point? What the hell is the point?" She was sobbing now.

"Welcome to the club," Gabriel said bitterly. "It's always been this way, our whole lives. Dear old Dad. Never around when you really need him."

Gail looked at him in disbelief. "Well, you know what?" she said, rising sloely to her feet. "Screw Him, and screw you, too! Screw all of you! Not one of you was here for Cas, when he needed you the most! Where were those big white wings of yours and that kickass attitude when we needed them? And where IS our Father, anyway? Sitting around in a condo in Boca, playing canasta? Screw Him. He's not my Father. My father is a baby-killing voodoo-practicing bastard, who would just as soon kill me as look at me! Well, at least the two of them have that characteristic in common, anyway! God the Father seems to enjoy killing me, too. Fine. I'll just have to figure it out on my own, then. Like always. Me and Cas, against the universe. So what else is new?"

Gabriel eyed her suspiciously. What was she talking about?

Gail picked her blade up off the ground, where she'd put it when she'd knelt beside Cas. She stared at Gabriel for another moment, and then she stabbed herself in the chest with it, making sure the blade went all the way through her vessel's heart. Which was incredibly redundant, when you thought about it.

Gail fell to the ground on top of Cas, her golden essence pouring out of her. She only had an instant to be glad that she had been able to touch her husband once more, and then, she was dead.

Gabriel rushed forward, horrified. What the actual hell had just happened here? He rolled her body over, preparing to give her vessel CPR, or stuff her essence back in her, or whatever, whatever it would take. He gripped Cas's blade tighter in his own hand. If he had to, he was prepared to cut his own throat and give her his own Grace. If she wouldn't take it voluntarily, he would cram it in her, invoking her husband's name as he did it. Did she think that Cas had killed himself for nothing?

But Gail was dead, too, and now Gabriel started to shed bitter tears.

Gail landed with a crash into a chair in the middle of a small, nondescript room. She looked around, bewildered. Where was she? She'd thought for sure that she would be seeing Death. She had been prepared to prostrate herself before him, promising him the sun, the moon and the stars, an endless supply of drob de miel, anything he wanted, if he would bring Cas back. Anything. Anything.

But here she was in this room, instead. A minute or two later, a youngish man opened the door. "They're ready for you now," he told her.

Huh? She got up and followed him out of the room.

"Call the hearing to order," Bobby said, rapping the gavel.

VIGNETTE - BAD TO THE BONE

"Bobby? What the hell?" Gail said, rushing forward. "I'm back in Heaven? Good. Great." She looked around. "Where's Cas?"

"He ain't here," Bobby said, tight-lipped. "And it's probably just as well. Do you know how mad he would be? He killed himself so he wouldn't end up killing you, and this is how you repay him? I never thought you were this selfish."

Gail was astonished, but then she started to nod her head. "OK, I get it. I see what's happening here. This is my warning. My cautionary tale. 'This is what will happen, if you go down this dark path'. OK. Ooooh. Very scary. Okay, Bobby. I'll make sure Cas doesn't go to that meeting with Raguel. I'll throw myself on him, give him the doe eyes, whatever it takes. Duly noted."

"I don't know what you think is happening, Gail, but I can assure you, this is quite real," Chuck said to her.

She smiled. "See, just the fact that you're here proves to me that it's not," she said to him. "Right now, you're on the movie set, in Madagascar."

Chuck shook his head, frowning. "OK, number one, I can teleport too, you know. And, number two, weeks have passed, Gail. We've all been in mourning for you and Cas for a while now. Gabriel brought his body back up here and we had a state funeral for him, and then, we had a double funeral for you and Cas on Earth. Sam and Dean and Frank insisted on it. Frank and Sam nearly got in a fistfight when - " Chuck's voice broke - "Sam wanted to burn your body. Frank said that wasn't going to happen, and if Sam even thought about trying that, he was gonna take the gun he had in his belt and fill Sam so full of holes he was going to make Swiss cheese jealous. Then, just as Jody and Dean were about to pull them apart, Frank put his arms around Sam and said he knew, it hurt like hell, and then the two of them slumped to the floor and held each other, crying like babies. Then Dean went to the kitchen and broke every dish they had, yelling at God, cursing him out. Daring him to show his face. Then, Jody reminded Dean that Cas had brought them those dishes, and then Dean hung his head and cried. What the hell is the matter with you, Gail? Look, I don't know what Cas felt like he had to do out there, because I wasn't there. But Gabriel said you took out your own blade, said we could all go screw ourselves, and then killed yourself, without any regard for how any of us would feel about it. Where do you get off?"

"But, Cas - " she started to say, but Bobby cut her off. "Never mind about Cas," he said crossly. "This ain't Cas's hearing, it's yours. Chuck's right. You broke our hearts, Gail. Cas died a hero, but you? What the hell were you thinking?"

She was starting to get agitated now. "I was thinking that I would see Death, and beg him to take it back," she said honestly.

"Well, now you're stuck with us, instead," Bobby said grumpily. "We're supposed to decide the disposition of your soul. But, you know how this works, Gail. You should. You set this board up yourself. You're supposed to tell us why you should be allowed to get into Heaven. Or, in your case, return to Heaven."

She was speechless. What? "But what about Cas?" she asked. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach now.

"My mom said he's probably been taken to the Netherworld," Kevin said.

She froze. Oh, no. In her shock and grief, she hadn't even thought of that. What the hell was she supposed to do with THAT? The point of this whole thing had been to be with Cas. Who the hell wanted to be in Heaven, if he wasn't here? And this board could only rule to keep her here in Heaven, or cast her down to Hell. One, or the other.

Gail faced the board defiantly. "You know what? Screw this," she said. "How dare you all sit there and accuse me of being selfish? How DARE you? You quit being God because it got too hard for you, didn't you, Bobby? Well, you know what? You're the selfish one. If you were still God, we wouldn't be in this mess. I doubt Raguel would have wanted to kill YOU. You're so ineffectual, so unimportant, that Patricia hardly even bothered to come after you during the election. All you are is an old man, who can't make his mind whether he wants to be a human, or an Angel. You're never going to recapture those glory years. Hunting with Rufus, or thinking that you have a chance to be Jody's boyfriend. Sam and Dean have moved on from you. They don't need you anymore. You blame Cas for being better than you, because he is, in every sense of the word. But that's not his fault, it's yours."

"I see what you're trying to do here, Gail, but it's not gonna work," Bobby said through clenched teeth.

"Shut up," Gail snapped at him, and then Laurel said, "That's not necessary, Gail. I understand that you're grieving, but attacking Bobby isn't going to bring Cas back."

Oh, no? Gail thought. Well, we'll just see about that. She was crying inside, but she couldn't let the hurt expression on Bobby's face deter her. Cas needed her now.

"You can shut up too, Laurel," Gail said spitefully. "You don't know anything about it. You and Kevin are just here on the panel because I needed a couple of bleeding hearts, to balance out Bobby and Chuck. I'm sure Chuck is all hearts and flowers with you because I know he enjoys getting laid, but do you have any idea how much of a bastard he used to be? When I first made his acquaintance, he was conspiring to break Metatron out of jail, and he was ultimately successful in doing it. And then, he sicced Aurielle on me. He filled her head with all kinds of lies about me, and then she spent the next several years trying to seduce Cas, and kill me. Oh, and, even when Chuck was supposedly one of the good guys, he used his Prophet status to spy on me and Cas in bed. Nice boyfriend you've got there. So, you know what, Laurel? Don't bother."

Then, Gail focused on a shell-shocked Chuck. "Where was that Prophet stuff when it could have done us some good, Chuck?" she demanded, willing herself not to cry. "You were there on the movie set, acting like some kind of big shot when we came to you, trying to find out anything we could about Raguel. Anything at all, that would enable us to get the jump on him. But your head was filled with scripts and plot lines, you told us. You're the selfish one, Chuck. Well, I hope you're happy. You're one of the people who's directly responsible for Cas's death. Why don't you write THAT into your little movie?"

Bobby rapped his gavel. "That's enough. Gail."

She laughed scornfully. "You think so? I'm just getting started. Where's Gabriel, by the way? Cowering in a corner somewhere, probably. That's his usual position. What a waste of space he is. Wow. God made me an 'Original'. Whoopie-doo. I have super duper cleaning power. Why the hell didn't he give me Gabriel's Archangel power? I think we all know the answer to that one, though, don't we? Because I have the temerity to have a vagina, instead of a penis. At least if I'd had Gabriel's power, I would have used it, when it counted. And what about God? What good is he, anyway? Cas and I probably should have gone over to Lucifer's side. Think of all the heartaches we could have saved. At least he never pretended to be anything other than what he was. Not like you. You're all liars, and you're all cowards. Where were any of you when Cas needed you?"

"You don't mean any of what you're saying now," Bobby said to her.

"Oh, who the hell are you to tell me what I mean?" Gail said resentfully. "Where were you, when he was in Egypt all by himself, facing down Raguel? Where were any of you then? At least Sam and Dean were there, even though they were useless. I should have just let Raguel kill them. Then, at least they might have had Angel powers. Better still, I should have called on my real father. Promised him any dark deed he wanted me to perform, in exchange for Cas's life. It would have been worth it to me. But instead, I thought the forces of Good were going to come through for me. I guess I backed the wrong horse there, didn't I?"

Bobby rapped the gavel again. "You're wasting your time, Gail," he said sternly. "You're not gonna get what you're angling for."

"Yes, I will, Bobby," she said stubbornly. "One way or another, I will. We're all eternal beings here. I've got nothing but time."

"We'll just ascend you, then," he countered.

The other board members were staring at the two of them now, in bewilderment. What the hell was going on between those two?"

"Your move, Grandmaster B," Gail said coolly. "You have no idea what's going on here. You think you do, but you don't."

"I keep telling you people, Southern don't mean dumb," Bobby shot back. "You're trying to sabotage your hearing, Gail. Regardless of what you said, I care about you and Cas way too much to give you what you think you need."

"I'm not giving you a choice," Gail retorted. "If you ascend me, I'll tear it all down, Bobby. I have all the secrets. Cas didn't keep anything from me."

"You're bluffing," Bobby said, his pulse racing.

"Am I? Just try me," Gail said to him. "Ask Frank how stubborn I am. Ask Sam about my doe eyes. None of you will ever see it coming. Ask Dean about how vindictive I can be. I won't stop until I get what I want, Bobby. Do you really want to subject Heaven to that? With Cas and me gone, and Patricia in the crazy house, the Office would fall to you, by default. If you decide to ascend me, though, the Office will actually go to me, as Cas's widow. Those are the rules of succession, the ones that we drew up in that boardroom. Do you really want me in the High Office, with nothing to do all day but sit and plot my revenge?"

"Aww, that's b.s., Gail," Bobby scoffed. "Nice try. That's not who you are. Let me remind you who you really are."

Suddenly, they were standing in the field behind the bunker. Sam, Dean, Frank, Jody, and Chuck were shoveling dirt onto her and Cas's graves.

"This is where they would want to be," Sam remarked. He was fighting back tears, yet again. "I'll come out here and plant some rose bushes in the spring. She liked roses."

"I don't understand," Rob was saying to the group. He was holding Angela, who was pouting and squirming in his arms, almost as if she understood what was going on. "I don't understand any of this," Rob repeated. "If Cas killed himself because he was afraid he would be forced to kill Gail, then, why did she kill herself?"

"Haven't you ever read Romeo and Juliet?" Barry said sadly. He knelt down at their graves and crossed himself, and then he took a scoop of dirt from each grave and put it in a Tupperware container. He didn't even know why he was doing that; he just knew that he had to have them at the new house, somehow. They'd never even seen it. Maybe he would put the dirt in the back garden in the spring, and try to grow some vegetables. The last time he'd talked to Cas, Cas had told Barry that he was contemplating trying to grow vegetables in his and Gail's back yard, at their house on Earth. If they came out all right, Cas had said, smiling, he would give Barry first dibs on the best ones.

Tommy was standing at parade rest behind his husband and Rob, but his heart was broken. How had this been allowed to happen? With all the Angels that Cas supposedly had at his disposal? Cas and Gail had been the ones to restore his faith a while back, but it was shaken to its core now. What was the point? What the hell was the point to any of it? Tommy still had his gun in the drawer of his office at home. He was thinking about that now. If things had been so bad that Cas and Gail had both elected to shuffle off this mortal coil, then why should Tommy not do the same thing? Why shouldn't any of them?

"Come on, I'll buy you guys a drink," Chuck said to Barry, Tommy and Rob. "I'll put Angela down in one of the spare bedrooms. Here, Rob, give her to me."

Rob handed the baby to their Angel friend, and then he looked somberly at the graves. "I don't want to leave them," the young man said suddenly. "I loved them. I don't know if I ever told them that. Why didn't I tell them that?" He sighed, looking at his parents. "Are you coming into the house?"

"You go ahead," Jody said to him. "Please, Rob. Your Dad needs a minute."

Chuck led Rob and the other men to the bunker door as Jody turned back to Sam and Dean and Frank. But there were no words. She kissed each of them on the cheek, then followed Chuck and the men inside.

Dean swore. For just about the umpteenth time, he went over everything in his mind. What could they have done differently? But the answer kept coming back the same: nothing. Nothing at all. Of course Cas would have killed himself before he would have ever hurt Gail. Dean knelt at Cas's grave now, overcome with emotion. "You burned my body here, a while back. Well, at least everybody thought it was my body," he said to Cas softly. "I never appreciated what that must have taken out of you, at the time. But I sure do now. You went out a hero, buddy. Don't let anybody ever tell you anything different." He put his fingers to his lips and kissed them, putting them on the dirt over Cas's grave. Then he reached his hand over to Gail's. "You swept into our lives one dark night like a tornado, and no matter what we did, we couldn't shake you." Dean's lips twitched, even as the tears continued to spill from his eyes. "No wonder they named you Gail. You were a force of nature. I guess lights that bright can only burn for so long." He kissed his hand again, and this time he put it on Gail's grave. "Wherever you and Cas are, I hope you're together, making out like teenagers. That's the only way this would be remotely fair. That's the only thing that would make sense." Then he rose to his feet. "Come on, Sammy. Let's go drink a liquor store. You can get really loaded and tell us all how much you loved Gail. Somehow, I don't think anybody'll condemn you for it. Not today."

The brothers both touched Frank on his shoulder on the way inside, and now, it was only Gail's brother, staring down at the graves of his sister and brother-in-law. He moved closer.

"Cas..." Frank started, and his voice broke. He started to weep silently. "Thanks for making my sister so happy, if only for such a short time. She loved you so much, and I know you loved her the same. If I'd ever had any doubts about how much, you proved that to me with what you did. I loved you like you were my own brother. You WERE my brother, Cas. I wish I'd gotten the chance to hang around with you more. Hell, I wish a lot of things. Rest in peace, brother."

Then Frank moved over to Gail's grave, and he sank to his knees. The pain was almost too much for him to bear. This was ten times worse than when his parents had been murdered. He hadn't really had the luxury of mourning, then. He'd had to get his shit together then, and get Gail to safety.

Gail. His little sister. If not by blood, then in every way that really mattered. He pictured her as a baby, grabbing onto his finger for the first time, gurgling happily. His mom feeding her in the high chair. She would kick her little legs, holding her little arms in the air for some reason, like she was the victim of a stick-up, or something. Frank had thought it was hilarious. Then, when she'd learned to crawl, and then to walk, she used to toddle around the house like she was racing to get somewhere. Their dad had given Gail that stupid stuffed penguin that she had dubbed Ralph for some reason, and she had taken it with her wherever she went, talking to it as if it was a person. Frank was sobbing now, remembering the day after Gail had gotten back from the hospital, looking for her beloved Ralph. Frank's mother telling her that he was gone. Why the hell had his mother done that? Gail was still very young, but she had seemed to close down after that. She had spent a lot of time in her room, reading books that were far too dark for her age. Now that Frank knew who Gail's real father was and some of the story behind her adoption, he guessed he could sort of understand a few things a little better. But he knew his sister, and she wasn't Vincent's daughter, not in any way but biologically. They had grown apart as Frank had gotten older, as siblings sometimes will. First off, he'd been a teenager, with an active social life. He thought of all the times he'd left the house on his bike to be with his friends and Gail had been sitting on the porch, reading her books. There had been enough difference in their ages and interests back then to make it seem as if they were from different planets.

But then had come the murders, and regardless of who was actually behind those, Frank had been thrown into the role of his sister's protector. The two of them had grown closer together, out of sheer necessity. But Frank had realized how much he truly cared about his sister during that time. She'd been a sweet little kid, who didn't understand why her perfect Leave It To Beaver life had suddenly turned to shit. Frank didn't really understand it either, but he had been older, and he'd known by then that there was a lot of Evil in the world. So he had tried his best to help eradicate it, and as he and Gail had grown up together over the years, Frank had made sure that Gail was made aware of that, too. She couldn't afford to stay a dewy-eyed innocent, not when Crowley and his Demons were out there, looking for the siblings. So Gail had received her adult education on monsters and things that go bump in the night, much like Sam Winchester once had, from his brother Dean.

But, it was funny: even though Frank had made sure that his sister's eyes were wide open, a part of Gail had somehow always retained that cockeyed optimism that she had. "It could happen," she'd echoed to him after they had watched Angels In The Outfield, for about the billionth time. And how ironic was that, anyway? Talk about an omen for the future. Frank had frowned at her, and then, when she'd been older, he'd started to lecture her. Don't go looking for miracles, Frank had said, hating himself, but knowing that he had to do it. Miracles don't happen to people like us, he'd told Gail sternly. And she had looked at him with the doe eyes, nodding, saying that he was right, of course. But there had been a little smile playing at the corners of her mouth, as if she knew something her big brother didn't.

Then, the worst moment of their lives: when those Demons had kidnapped the siblings, and thrown them in the back of that pickup truck. But in a strange way, that had also turned out to be a wonderful turning point. That had been the beginning of the new phase of their lives. Frank hadn't even minded dying all that much at the time, because he had been in such excruciating pain. And, he had seen the men that his sister had brought into the Demon safe house with her that day, right before Frank had died. Instinctively, he'd known that all three of those men would give their own lives before they would let anything bad happen to Gail. So Frank had been able to let go, knowing as soon as he'd seen the way that Cas had looked at his sister that the torch had been passed.

But it had been torture there, for a while. Frank had been forced into Crowley's service, unable to help it. But even then, a part of him had rejoiced to see Gail, growing into a stronger woman. Then had come the blessed day when Cas had come to get Frank, delivering him from Hell. Time and time again, Cas had proven himself to be a quality individual, and one hell of a man. Nobody knew, not even Jody, that Frank had asked to see Cas before Gail and Cas's wedding, just the two men. Frank had interrogated Cas then, asking him why he wanted to marry Gail. She wasn't beautiful, Frank had said bluntly, and she was stubborn as hell. She was going to drive Cas nuts. Was it sex? If so, Frank was sure that a good-looking guy like Cas could get any number of women. Was it the doe eyes? Because Frank himself had fallen victim to them a bunch of times, and they weren't all they were cracked up to be. Was it because Cas thought that Gail needed rescuing? If so, Frank could assure him that she might look like she did, but...

Then Cas had stopped him, right then and there. He had taken Frank's hand, much like he would have taken Gail's, and when Frank had been about to make a quip, Cas had looked into Frank's eyes and said, "You can rest now, Frank."

Gail's brother had looked at Cas then. "What?" he'd asked.

"You can rest," Cas had repeated. "Let me take it from here. I love your sister, with every form and fibre of my being. She is the one that I have waited centuries for; the one that was promised to me. I will never let anything happen to her, Frank. I will lay down my life for her. She will be loved beyond any stretch of your imagination, and she will grow into a stronger woman than you could ever comprehend."

Frank's tears fell now, and they made little puddles in the dirt on Gail's grave. "And he delivered," he said to his sister in a hushed tone. "He delivered on every promise, didn't he, kiddo? And, so did you. I wish I'd told you how proud I was of you. You stood toe to toe with the big boys, and you didn't flinch. Those guys told me how you faced down Lucifer, and Raguel, too. My heart just about burst out of my chest, with how proud I was. But you never forgot how to be kind, either. Look at everything you did for Jody, when she was going through her rough time. She told me, out of everyone we knew, you were the one who did the most for her. Some stuff, I didn't even know about. If it weren't for you and Cas, I would never have even met Jody, or had a family. I hope you're happy wherever you are now, kiddo. I'm gonna picture you and Cas somewhere, holding hands and necking like teenagers. Driving us all crazy. I'm going to miss you like mad, Gail. When Angela gets a little older, I'm going to tell her all about her Aunt Gail, the girl who believed that everyone deserves love. Hey, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while, right?" The tears continued to fall as Frank put his hand on the dirt on top of his little sister's grave. "Goodbye, kiddo. I love you."

Then he got up and glanced at both graves once more, and then he walked slowly over to the steel door of the bunker.

"You're a bastard," Gail hissed at Bobby, digging her nails into her palms. "I hate you."

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter," he told her, giving her the same expression he used to give Sam or Dean when the boys had needed to learn a tough lesson.

"Where were YOU during those touching proceedings, anyway?" she said tartly, trying to hold on to her emotions.

"Tearing Gabriel a new one," he answered matter-of-factly. "And then, I had to talk him off the metaphorical ledge. He blames himself for everything that happened."

"He should," Gail sniffed disdainfully. If Bobby thought he was going to break her this easily, he obviously hadn't been paying attention over the last several years. Didn't he see that she was on that ledge, too?

"Are we done here?" Gail asked Bobby, as dispassionately as she could manage. "You must have lots of other cases, besides mine."

Then, they were back in the hearing room in Heaven. "Look; let me make this simple for you," Gail said, impatient to get on with things. If Bobby did anything else like that to her, she was going to have to kill herself all over again. "This is supposed to be a hearing to determine where I deserve to go, right? So let me help you out, here. I killed a child in Crowley's den a number of years ago. I thought it was a human child. The fact that it wasn't is irrelevant. I thought he was, at the time. I tortured a young man in Europe to try to get Lucifer's whereabouts from him, even though Sam and Dean begged me not to. I was the one who suggested to Cas that we should turn everything off, when we got back from Paris. You know why? Because I was thinking of myself. Because I wanted to have sex with Cas. Lots and lots of sex. I tempted him, and he gave in, and then Lucifer raped Patricia. Everything that Xavier and Patricia ever accused me of being, I am. I confess to it, now. I'm a selfish bitch. I'm a slut, and I'm a whore. Every terrible deed they said I've done, I've done. Every horrible thought they've ever said I had, I've had. It's true. All of it. I left Crowley for Cas because Cas is better-looking, and better-endowed, and I thought he could do more for me. And he did, in every sense of the term. But he's gone now, and I have to look out for myself. You know what you have to do, Bobby. The rules are very clear. As you said, I should know. I helped write them myself. Now, bang that gavel. We're wasting time."

Bobby let out a frustrated breath. "So you're determined to do this?" he said to her. "I sure hope you know what you're doing."

"Sure I know what I'm doing," Gail said quickly.

"Do you?" Bobby retorted. "Do you realize, for the record, that everything you've said, and everything you've confessed to here today..." He paused, trying to collect himself. "Based on all of that, based on the law that you yourself helped to write, we have no choice but to send you to Hell?"

"Yes, but you're forgetting one thing: I'm an Original Angel, and the First Lady of Heaven," Gail responded. "That status should gain me entrance to the Netherworld, shouldn't it?"

Kevin and Chuck looked at each other. Ohhhh. Now, they finally got it. They had to admit that it was a brilliant ploy. Gail was going all in. She was assuming that Death had taken Cas directly to the Netherworld, and she was attempting to play the only trump card she had.

There was only one problem: "This board only has the authority to ascend you, or send you to Hell, remember?" Bobby said to Gail. "If Death had been inclined to take you to the Netherworld, he would have done it when you first died. But, he didn't. You miscalculated, Gail. According to the laws that you set out, and that all of us agreed on, I have no choice. I'm sorry, dear, I truly am. But based on what has occurred here today, I have no choice but to send you to Hell. Have mercy on your soul."

"Hello, sweetheart," Crowley said, regarding Gail. He saluted her with a tumbler of scotch. "What's an allegedly nice girl like you doing here, in my domain? I'll bet it's one hell of a story," he said, leaning back in his chair.

\- END OF BOOK 32. -


End file.
